Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Yes, He Really Does

2 SAMUEL 22:20 – He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

THEME OF THE DAY. YES, HE REALLY DOES. Do we believe today’s scripture? Of course we do. It is the Word of God. But do we believe its truth to us personally – the truth that God really does delight in us? Of course we do. He said it. But what about when we sin for the umpteenth time? What about giving into the same temptation again? What about when our “spiritual tank” is low and we neglect His Word, prayer, and faithfulness to His people? Do we still believe He delights in us?

Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor did an amazing work in their editing of the seventeenth century Puritan John Owen’s masterpiece book Communion with The Triune God. They wrote concerning our fellowship with God the Father, “Unfortunately, many Christians often have a distorted view of the heavenly Father. We tend to view Him as angry and full of wrath toward us. While we imagine Jesus as the one who loves us, the Father is portrayed as full of hesitation toward us – distant at best, furious at worst. It is as if Jesus pleads with the Father to put up with us and to let us live, perhaps even against the Father’s desire. We often view Jesus as the ‘kind’ person of the Trinity, with the Father only wanting us punished. Is the Father, in fact, really reluctant to show tenderness toward people?”

Perhaps we are not in the crowd Kapic and Taylor describe with a distorted view of God the Father. But maybe we are. Wherever we find ourselves in our view of God, and particularly, the love of God the Father, no Christian goes through life without periods of doubt of God’s love. There is a devil who used doubt against our first parents, Adam and Eve, and he still uses it today against God’s children. And it is effective still. Why? We are people prone to measure success by what we do, our performance, and that includes our walk with the Lord. Now be honest. When we are struggling in our Christian life by neglect, laziness, loving the world, failing to obey, and just going through the motions of Christianity, isn’t there a strong temptation to doubt God’s delight and love? Why? Because, by sinful nature, we are performance-based and we “are not measuring up.” Maybe this hasn’t happened to you. It has to me. Performance-based Christianity is part of Satan’s tactic and it always leads to doubt of God’s love.

So, how do we resist and overcome this debilitating spiritual condition of doubting God’s delight in us? Simple, not easy, but simple. Put this truth into our minds and hearts. It is the truth of all we are and all we do is totally of God’s grace – But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me (1 Corinthians 15:10). Let this transform our thinking and living; God delights in us, not based on who we are and what we do, but because of who He is and what He does. And He is the God of all grace making us who we are and what we do because He delights in who He is and what He does toward us – give constant grace.

PRAYER: “Father, forgive me for the too many times I doubt Your love for me because I look at myself instead of You.”

QUOTE: “The greatest grief we may bring upon the heart of God is to question His love and delight in us.”