ISAIAH 58:13-14 – “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

THEME OF THE DAY. THE PLACE WHERE DELIGHT GROWS. Delighting in the Lord. Enjoying the Lord. Adoring the Lord. Experiencing the Lord. Beholding the Lord. Growing in the Lord. Worshipping the Lord. Loving the Lord. What three common traits are found in the seven things opening today’s nugget? The first is obvious – the Lord. They all come from the Lord. As we read in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans – For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36). We receive everything in life – physical and spiritual – from the Lord. Despite our narcissistic culture and our own bent toward selfishness, nothing about life or in life is about us. It is all about Him. The other two common traits require a little thinking for they are implied. True, but implied. The second one is they are experiences every Christian should be encountering in their walks with the Lord. We are a people saved to delight in, enjoy, adore, experience, behold, grow, worship, and love the Lord. Yet, I see, starting with the man in the mirror, many Christians who seem to not be experiencing these great riches and blessings from the Lord consistently. And that leads to the third common trait among the seven rich blessings we are to know in the Lord. This one actually reveals a chief hindrance to experiencing these great spiritual blessings.

God is telling us in today’s scripture that if we honor Him on His Day – guard the Sabbath for His Person and purposes, and not treat it as another day in the weekend, we will take delight in Him. He will lead us to new heights of experiencing Him, and feed us with the satisfying food of His Word. So, this leads to the necessity to ask two questions of ourselves – “Are we experiencing a delight in the Lord promised to us if we keep His Day, well, His Day?” and “What would be more important on any Sunday than to please the Lord by obeying His Word not to forsake Him and His people on His Day (Hebrews 10:25)?”

Friends, we cannot know anything of the Lord’s joy, fullness, love, peace, closeness, and Person if we ignore known commands. Or worse, justify not keeping His commands by choosing “good things in life” over the best thing in life – obeying the Lord. Let me illustrate. I love fishing. It is wonderful to be outside in God’s creation, and even if I don’t catch anything. It is a delight. And going with another brother just adds to the delight of the fishing trip – fellowship. Fishing is a gift to me from God and I thank Him for it, but what if I start choosing the Lord’s Day for fishing trips? Or fill up my free time with fishing causing me to miss prayer meetings, Bible studies, and opportunities to serve the Lord? Then a good thing has overridden the best thing – obedience to the Lord. Evaluate your own life. Have you, or do you choose “good things” on the Lord’s Day to replace the best thing – obeying His command to honor Him on His Day with His people? And don’t go easy on yourself thinking if you give an hour or so on Sunday, you are done. Doesn’t work that way. Perhaps the reason why we are not regularly delighting in the Lord, enjoying the Lord, adoring the Lord. experiencing the Lord, beholding the Lord, growing in the Lord, worshipping the Lord and loving the Lord is because we are compromising His Day by what we want to do instead of what He has commanded us to do. Think about it. We might need to make some Lord’s Day changes in our lives.

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for giving me fellow believers, in your church, through which I am to receive much joy.”

QUOTE: “Don’t make Sunday another day in the weekend. Oh, you may ‘have worldly fun’ but you will forfeit eternal joy.”