Big surprises can be lots of fun! You know, a new car in the driveway, an expensive purse for our birthday, a big raise at work that we weren’t expecting.
But sometimes it’s the simple things that delight me. My husband brings me home a delicious slice of cake from his work party. I get a sweet text or phone call from one of my daughters. A book I’ve been wanting to read becomes available at the library.
We all like to be delighted, to find pleasures, big or small, as we go through our day. It could be a person, a thing, or a situation that makes us happy.
I’m currently reading a chapter from Proverbs each day, something I’ve done off and on many times over the years. This time through, I’ve noticed several different verses that tell us things that delight God.
As Christians, I hope we all would want to find out what pleases God. So here are three things the Bible tells us that we can do to delight God.
1. Obey Him.
And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. ~1 Samuel 15:22
We know this story from 1 Samuel. The Lord told King Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites. However, Saul decided to spare the king as well as the best of all the animals. When the prophet Samuel comes to find Saul after the battle, he confronts him about not fully following what God told him to do.
The verse above confirms that God delights in our obedience. Yet how often are we tempted to do what we want to do even if it goes against what we find in His Word?
God delights in our obedience. Let’s make that practical.
When I love my neighbor, I delight God. When I say “no” to a sin that I struggle with, I bring pleasure to God. Content with what I have? God’s pleased. I exercise self-control and don’t lose my temper? He’s delighted.
Delighting God with our obedience is simple to understand, but not always easy to do.
2. Be honest in our words and our actions.
A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight. ~Proverbs 11:1
Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight. ~Proverbs 12:22
We should have integrity in our dealings with others. We want to be known as honest and trustworthy. As followers of God, I hope we respect other people too much to cheat them.
If we want to delight God, we tell the truth. Lying and being deceitful are not options. We’re sincere in what we say and do and we keep our word.
3. Pray.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. ~Proverbs 15:8
What a blessed thought that God would delight in my prayers! This convicts me about how little I pray. Sadly there are days that he doesn’t have much to delight in.
God’s not impressed by those who make a big, outward show of their devotion to him. He wants our hearts, for us to simply come to him with our needs and trust him to meet them.
Our prayer time with God can become a sweet time of communication, a time where we lay down our self-reliance and look to him for help and guidance.
May we all seek to delight our good God as we obey him, live an honest life, and commune with him in prayer.
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