June 14
Delight Yourself in the Lord
Delight yourself in the Lord. - Psalms 37:4
The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the reminder of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is described as a delight in God, and we are reminded of the great fact that genuine faith overflows with happiness and joy.
Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either because of what they might get or because they are afraid of the consequences of neglect. The thought of delight in religious exercise is so strange to most men that no two words in their language stand further apart than holiness and delight.
But believers who know Christ understand that delight and faith are so wonderfully united that the gates of hell cannot manage to separate them. Those who love God with all their hearts find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. The saints discover in Christ such joy, such overflowing delight, such blessedness that far from serving Him from custom, they would follow Him even though the whole world rejected Him. We do not fear God because of any compulsion; our faith is no shackle, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.
Delight and true faith are as interwoven as root and flower, as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious stones glittering side by side in a setting of gold.
'Tis when we taste Thy love,
Our joys divinely grow,
Unspeakable like those above,
And heaven begins below.
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Deuteronomy 19
verse 2 Psalms 106
Where was God when that happened?: And other questions about God’s goodness, power, and the way He works in the world.
By Christopher Ash
When a personal tragedy strikes, or when we find ourselves struggling to make sense of horrifying world events, do we begin to doubt if God is truly in control? After all, if God is good then why do bad things happen?
Christopher Ash addresses this question head on. In his book, Where was God when that happened?, he offers remarkable insight into the challenging topic of God’s sovereignty within a world filled with sadness and pain. This warm, pastorally hearted and accessible book will help those struggling with this question to see the grand vision of the Bible’s answer — and the tragedy of adopting any other viewpoint.
Click here to learn more about Truth For Life
From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
