It is said that we are born into the world looking for someone who is looking for us. This is why it’s so important for parents to connect with their children in the earliest part of their life. We were made for relational connection, made in the image of a “We” not an “I.” Just as each person of the Trinity delights in the other, so we who bear God’s image were made to delight in others and be delighted in by others.
Unfortunately, many of us feel like no one truly cares about us, truly desires to know us and walk with us and just enjoy who we are. Sin and selfishness have ravaged our families, friendships, and even our churches. We are surrounded by people, but we wonder if there is anyone out there looking for us, anyone who takes joy in simply knowing us.
Thankfully, the Bible’s answer is, “Yes, there is someone who takes joy in knowing us.” The Bible says repeatedly and clearly that those who belong to God are delighted in by God. Isaiah 62 and Zephaniah 3 are perhaps the clearest places to see God’s delight in his people.
Isaiah 62:3-5 says this, “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you…and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
Did you see all the ways Isaiah describes God’s delight in his people? He calls them “a crown of beauty,” a “royal diadem,” and says that their name is “My Delight Is in Her” (vv. 3-4). Then Isaiah gives the reason why the Lord thinks this way about his people, “For the Lord delights in you” (v. 4). God’s delight in his people even causes him to “rejoice over you” (v. 5). God’s delight in his people overflows into joy over his people.
The prophet Zephaniah echoes Isaiah. In one of my favorite passages of Scripture, Zephaniah says, “On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: ‘Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing’” (3:16-17).
Zephaniah says that, because God has taken away his judgments against his people and defeated their enemies (v. 15), they should not fear or grow weak. He says that God is with them and will save them (v. 16). As if this was not enough, he then says that God will rejoice over them, quiet their fearful hearts with his love, and even sing loudly over them. Because God loves and delights in his children, he sings and rejoices “with gladness” over them.
This is worth meditating on. God sings “loudly” and “with gladness” over those who belong to him. His love quiets our fears. He sees us. He knows us. He understands what we have done and what has been done to us. And he is happy to be our God.
Christian, do you believe that God delights in you? Do you hear God’s sweet voice singing over your life? Does your heart feel God’s joy in you as his child?
God delights in his children just as we delight in our children. And nothing we did explains why. He, like a good parent, delights in his children simply because they are his. Jesus bought us with his blood and the Spirit unites us to Jesus through faith. The result of this is that the Father is pleased with us because we belong to Christ (Mk. 1:11).
Christian, because you belong to Jesus, God is pleased with you, delights in you, is happy with you, and even sings over you with joy. No one else may feel this way about you, but the only Person in the universe who matters does.
Let God quiet you with his love today. Let his delight in you free you from needing to out-perform everyone else. Let his joy in you empower you to serve others, that they may know the God who delights in his people.
Praying that You Find Rest in the God who Delights in You,
Pastor John