Knowing and Delighting

I came across a quote recently from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones that challenged me. Speaking of knowing God, he says,

“I am not asking whether you know things about Him—but do you know God, are you enjoying God, is God the centre of your life, the soul of your being, the source of your greatest joy? He is meant to be.”

So how do we get to that place of truly knowing God,  enjoying Him, making Him the center of our lives, and finding Him the source of our greatest joy? Look at what Jeremiah 9:23-24 has to say:

“Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.”

Part of knowing God is knowing what He delights in, and making those same things our delight. But how do we know those things? We have a few specific things here in this passage: lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness—and not just on a heavenly scale. God takes delight when those things are accomplished or lived out here on earth, by you and me!

But that’s not where it ends. In order to truly know God, we need to study Him out through His word, as the man described in Psalm 1:2:

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.”

We need to delight in the law of the Lord, His Word. As we spend time reading the Bible in an attitude of prayer, looking to delight ourselves in that which delights our God, we will become more and more in tune with His delights and desires. I believe that is what Psalm 37:4 is talking about when it says,

“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

The more we delight in the Lord, the more we will desire what He desires for us. The desires of our heart will change as we learn to love and value what God does. Psalm 119 is an excellent example of a heart saturated and delighting in God’s Word, and therefore delighting to do the will of God. His desires and God’s are aligned.

“Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.” v.24

“Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; for therein do I delight.” v. 35

“And I will delight myself in Thy commandments, which I have loved.” v.47

“Let Thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for Thy law is my delight.” v.77

“Unless Thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.” v.92

“Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet Thy commandments are my delights.” v. 143

These are just a few examples, and I encourage you to go read the entire psalm with an eye towards the delight, joy, and hope the psalmist finds in God’s Word. That is the place Lloyd-Jones spoke of in the quote we started off with.

Isaiah 58 also gives a picture of what it looks like to delight in the Lord. It begins with the declaration that the people do all the outward things of seeking the Lord, and appear to be taking delight in him, but are really just living for themselves. He brings them back to the heart of the law, revealing their ungodly motives and desires. He gives them a beautiful picture of what it will look like to delight in the Lord:

“And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (vv.10-14)

When we are delighting in the Lord, and our desires are aligned with His, we will find our everyday lives characterized by a focus on others, rather than ourselves. Our main desire will be to please God, and we will choose those things that please Him over those that merely please ourselves. We will have hearts of joyful selflessness, and we will value those things that God values. Reflecting the holiness of God will be a delight to us, not a burden, and we will find ourselves living above the pettiness of the world and its fleshly distractions because our minds are renewed by the Word of God. (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:22-24)

So, dear Reader, do you know the Lord, what He is like, and what He delights in? Are you finding Him the source of your greatest joy? How is the Holy Spirit prompting your heart to delight yourself in the Lord today?

“I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:8)