AW Tozer says of delight, "We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit (and) when the Holy Spirit shows us God as He is we admire Him to the point of wonder and delight.”
It took years of prodding and searching to unveil the true meaning of this verse. For so long, I misunderstood it. I felt as though I was a failure when I would read it. I would cry out, “Lord I am doing all that I can to delight in you. Why aren’t you giving me what I want?”
In discovering what the Psalmist meant by these words and God’s intentions for delighting, I discovered that there is great joy and freedom when one is no longer attached to the things of this world that will not last.
Delight is a process. It involves focusing our eyes each day on the Word of God rather than the words of man, the things of eternity over the things on earth. When we delight in God, when we choose Him above anything this world has to offer, when we talk to Him, worship Him, sing to Him, and live for Him, He changes us into the images of His Son. We become like Him and want what He wants.
We do not know what is best for ourselves. One of my favorite country singers, Thomas Rhett, in his song Almost, thanks God for the almost, for the so close, for the doors that open, and for the doors that slam closed.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9
The joy of delighting in Him is knowing that His plans for us are for good, but they look very different from the world.