Delight Yourself in the Lord

Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the LORD

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

As a young girl, I’d often be lost in my own thoughts, admiring God’s beauty through what He had created. Seeing it through eyes of childlike faith, I believed that all that I saw was put there by Him for my benefit and for me to share with Him.

I delighted in pointing out the wonders He had created, as though He gained enjoyment in my enthusiasm over sharing with Him what He had done. I would point out a particularly beautiful flower or how pretty the trickling of the water in the creek sounded or how warm the sun felt on my skin, “God did You see that? Isn’t it wonderful?”

I still enjoy sharing God’s world with Him. In childlike wonder I point to the sunset and ask if He sees it too or take a moment to stop and admire a flower or a uniquely shaped leaf which has caught my eye. Does He take delight in what I take delight in? I believe that He does.

To share God’s multi-faceted world with Him is but a small thing. To stop for a moment and sigh in wonder and breathe out a thanks to Him for putting such a lovely cloud in the sky or to simply admire what He has done is to delight ourselves in the ways of the Lord. Yes, I do believe this makes Him happy.

Poem based on Acts 20:22-21:5

Paul, who faced bodily harm
upon his return to Jerusalem,
steadily, stoically, stubbornly
went.
Warnings came, yet on he went
heedless of those who bore witness
to the pain and suffering that awaited him.
Bound hand and foot, he suffered much
clinging to the jagged rock of faith
and awoke in glory.

Contemplations on John chapter 10

Today, as I started out on my walk, I pondered which direction to take. I stepped out of my back gate and there was this small dog standing there. A lady pulled up and explained that he had tried to enter her gate as well and that he lived down at the corner. I shut my gate and called for the small dog to follow me in the direction the lady had indicated. He followed me obediently, though I was not his owner.

When another stranger walked up, he started to follow the other stranger, no longer heeding my voice. I stopped just outside of what I thought must have been his gate, only to discover that he had decided to stop and visit with another dog. He was only a few houses from his own, so I felt safe in leaving and going on my way, in the direction that I had taken to try to lead the dog back to his home.

Just as a hired hand is not as interested in the sheep, I cared about the dog, but was not interested in having him follow me for too long, only in him getting back to the gate which was his. Additionally, though he initially followed my voice, he got sidetracked and because I was not his owner (shepherd), he was under no obligation to listen to and follow my strange voice. Were I his owner, he would have followed me, even being sidetracked, much as we follow Jesus’ voice because we recognize Him as our shepherd, as the one who cares for us.