Fine Silk
“Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 NASB
Delight – This word (‘anag) is used for a garment that is delicate or luxurious. Here it means to feel great favor toward something. But notice carefully the object of our delight. It is not His forgiveness. It is not His rescue. It is not His blessings or promises. This verse makes it clear that we do not delight in something God has done for us. We are delighted in His person – in who He is. Just like a fine piece of silk, the delight is not because of what can be done with the cloth, but because the cloth itself is so marvelous. The subject is desirable because it is attractive in and of itself.
This verse expresses great emotional joy about the subject. The word is used to describe pampering (Deuteronomy 28:56) and joyful merriment (Isaiah 58:14). Metaphorically, it describes the delight and joy over a restored Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:11). But the psalmist points us toward God Himself. Yeshua called such delight a priceless treasure in a field. Once discovered, a man would do anything to obtain that field and make the treasure his own.
The word picture (from Ayin-Nun-Gimel) reveals why delight in God is the summum bonum of Mankind. The pictograph is “experience life lifted up.” God is the God of life. To experience Him is to experience Life itself in all of its splendor and majesty.
We often feel as though the lives we lead are somber, guilt ridden, even tedious. When we have turned away from the thrill seeking of our old habits, the world sometimes seems drab and lifeless. But life in Yeshua is a replacement process. In it we will find that God becomes a delight to us, that we can enjoy His company and His purposes, that our lives are lighter because we have trusted Him. A most amazing transformation occurs when we begin to seek a relationship with God. Our lives progress toward fulfillment. Those secret spaces are no longer empty. We experience the desires of our reborn hearts as real experiences of joy. The time will come when we find ourselves happy just to belong to Him. We will know contentment. That is a promise we can count on.
In the frenzy of activity we call life, I wonder if we wouldn’t experience more of what we seek if we simply delighted in Him, if we set aside all the distractions and diversions, all the other self-sufficient pleasures built on our expectations and intentions, and let ourselves bask in being with Him. But, of course, that is the point of Shabbat, isn’t it. To remind us that Life and YHWH are synonymous and contemporaneously experienced. Is it your delight to just be alive?
Topical Index: delight, ‘anag, Shabbat, Psalm 37:4
~ Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all ~ (Colossians 3.11)
~ And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed.. ~ (Colossians 3.4)
~ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted..~ (Matthew 28.17)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQWLgBrf3tM
carl, thanks for sharing that video – i posted it on my facebook wall yesterday – it is beautiful…♥
jano
Skip-
Two of the truer sentences you’ve ever written! “To experience Him is to experience Life itself in all its fullness and majesty.” And “A most amazing transformation occurs when we begin to seek a relationship with God.”
And the road map to get there is found in Matthew 16:24&25
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it.”
Skip, thanks for your illuminating thoughts. Life itself is outrageously good!!!
Rich
You ask, “Is it your delight to just be alive?”
A thousand times Yes! I very much enjoy life. I’ve thanked Him over & over for creating me. Had He not, I woudn’t know it, would I? But I’m soooo glad I didn’t miss it!
My life is not an easy one, if it were, I might lose sight of God’s transforming power. Hardship nor pain nor temptations nor anything I can name causes Him to dim in my eyes, rather its the world’s illusions that dim. The more I learn about Him the more IN LOVE with Him I am. I sometimes feel He is so near that were I to turn suddenly around I’d bump into Him.
The ultimate delusion (must be) to be tricked into thinking life is not worth living, or wishing one had never been born.
Dorothy, there is nothing like “knowing” the Lover of our Souls… ♥ jan
Knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent is our only source and resource for true and eternal life (John 17:3). Within that relationship, true life is discovered, cherished and lived. Which is why, written on the inside of my falling apart, “nearly inspired version” (NIV) Bible of 20+ years are these words penned by me to my wife, Faith:
“Dear Faith and family” (as an aside, we had no children at the time in 1991 – our oldest was born in 1994 and we now have been blessed with three children):
“My promise before God and you is that I will never treat God’s Word idly. Because the words contained in this Book are “not just idle words for [me] – they are my life.” (Deut 32:47)(Proverbs 4:13) We know and love Him as He reveals Himself to us through His Word and as we lovingly obey Him in every aspect of life. He offers us life (His life); we must give Him ours. Such a sweet and glorious (delightful) exchange that is…just want to keep drawing nearer to Him and learning what brings Him the greatest delight.
“Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
“Is it your delight to just be alive?”
Hmmm
In English 1A many years ago I read The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (1940)
And said to myself “wow that is powerful stuff, I want to study literature”
Now I’m delighted to have my dog Max to keep me company 🙂
“The word picture (from Ayin-Nun-Gimel) reveals why delight in God is the summum bonum of Mankind”
Hmmm summum bonum
The eye (Ayin) sees the fish (Nun) on a camel (Gimal)
Allegorically speaking, the “fish” is our greatest gift from God
Michael,
Christian Fish…
http://christianity.about.com/od/symbolspictures/ig/Christian-Symbols-Glossary/Christian-Fish.htm
JESUS CHRIST… ♥
Hi Jan,
When I was a boy, they used to call Catholics “mackerel snappers” because they ate fish on Friday
And I used to catch makerel off the pier in Oceanside CA when I was a young boy
But now there are no more “mackerel snappers” in those neighborhoods
And there are no more “mackerel” in that part of the ocean
🙂
i’m sorry – perhaps i should have addressed you as “mackerel” & not michael this morning…
don’t know quite what to say about all that fish above me…
gone be the gills… 🙂
“don’t know quite what to say about all that fish above me…”
Down there lurking underneath all that fish is the Leviathan (Moby Dick)
Mackerel 🙂
thank you for all the insight on delight. Have been studying it and it you really drew out so much. I have added it to my word study.
Gorgeous life-giving article. Thank you God!
Yesterday I fell for the trap of being almost alive: of mistaking addictive choices to fill in the places I was supposed to be creating in: of mistaking freedom of choice I had been returned to mean that what I thought I wanted was the source of happiness and peace for me. At the end of the day, I felt like I had been drinking from a broken cistern. I didn’t like myself very much; I felt unfulfilled and ashamed. I saw that without the journey with the Spirit I had just been circling in a pond. Today I want to feel alive: today I want to be my real self: today I want to accomplish something I can write home to my Father about. Yesterday I was not really alive. Yesterday, I was just shoved around and lied to. I abused my freedom, and so I lost it. Today, I want to taste the wind again. And not forget, this time. So help me, God.
I felt this way in 2015. Wonderful!!! Then the end of 2015 into 2016 was quite an upheaval for me. I have never quite regained. But I know He is always with me. In spite of things we don’t always have control over, we have to remember that He will take care of those things that were not in alignment with His will. He is our provider and sustainer. We can trust in Him even in the midst of being betrayed by those close to us and those believers we put our trust in who sometimes fail us. It is truly the most WONDERFUL THING that can ever happen to you. SO:
Psa 37:4 NIV Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
You won’t be sorry, not for one second.
This is so true. Judie and I wanted to donate some money to the Jakarta project but had a problem. Maybe next time. Your work speaks for itself.