LIFE IS ADJUSTABLE!

 Delight 

I have been camped out in Psalm 119 for a couple of months. There is a recurring word that keeps showing up as the Psalmist talks about God’s Word. It is a word that I rarely hear in conjunction with God’s decrees. The Psalmist uses the word nine times in reference to God’s Word. If the word was used in a crossword puzzle, the clue might be a high degree of gratification or pleasure. That word is delight.

The psalmist says that he delights in God’s decrees, statues, commands, and law. If the truth be told, many of us find those things to be hard, troublesome, and a chore. We rarely say that we find delight in God’s law and decrees. When you find something to be a delight, you will want to return to it often. 

The key to finding delight in God’s commands may be found in another often repeated word in Psalm 119. It may be a four-letter word to some, but it is the key to finding delight in God’s Word. When you do this, you find that the ancient writings we call the Bible are true and beneficial. That four-letter word is obey. 

The author of Psalm 119 uses the word obey seventeen times. Obedience is important when it comes to delighting in God’s commands. I believe that we will change our attitude about God’s Word when we do what it says and are obedient to the words we read. Our lives and churches would change because we obeyed God ‘s decrees. I can only imagine how different churches would be if people found delight in reading their Bibles through obedience. If we only changed our attitude toward God’s Word through obedience, we could change the world. 

If delight isn’t a word you would use in reference to God’s Word, it just might be an obedience issue. When I find God’s Word to be a chore, it is often because I need to do what it says. Who wants to read God’s decrees when they confront us with our sin? The best way to keep God’s decrees from being a duty is through obedience.

Psalm 37:4 "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give 

you the desires of your heart." (NIV)