Delighting God
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. – Jer 9:23-24 NKJV
Are you wise, mighty or rich? That might be all well and good, but it won’t score you points with God. God is pretty clear about what He wants from us. According to Jeremiah 9:23-24, God just wants us to understand and know Him. I suppose that seems pretty reasonable, since by understanding and knowing God we will also know what to expect from us. I’m wondering if God might be easier to please than most people we know because His mind is an open book to us, pun intended.
Getting to know and understand God, which will result in Him delighting in us, is really an easy task if we just put forth some effort. All we have to do is dust off our bibles and spend some time each day reading its pages. We can even ask God to help us understand what we are reading! If we are Christians, He will provide that help through our own personal interpreter and tutor, the Holy Spirit, that lives inside us. God really does want us to know Him.
How well do you know God, the Creator of the universe? Do you know Him well enough to “glory” in what you know? Getting to know God is one of our highest priviledges, the thing God wants most from us, and the most profitable thing we can be doing, yet most Christians spend little time in God’s Word for themselves. Yes, we can learn about God from experiencing Him in creation, by listening to praise music or by reading books about Him, but we can’t truly understand all aspects of His nature unless we read the bible – all of it – for ourselves. If we really want to delight God, we need to get into the Book.
For further thought:
1) How much time do you spend in God’s Word each day?
2) Do you have a systematic approach to reading God’s Word? A systematic approach will give you consistency in your reading as well as ensure that you read it all rather than just your favorite passages over and over.
3) What one thing can you do this week to get to know God better through His Word?
Amen, we need to delight in His book.
This is the year my goal is to read through the whole bible. I am following the schedule published by the RCI folks in the “Our Daily Bread” booklets. So far my biggest problem is being consistent. But I am trying!
An excellent devotional Janna. Years ago, after reading so many good Chrisitan books, the Lord convicted me about spending time in The Book! All of those writers could only write those because they spent time in the word.
I feel that the Father is pulling His body back to the word…… to fill our spirits with the weapons of warfare……… we need to be in battle and we cannot do that unless we have armed ourselves.
great teaching
hugsx0x0x00x
Amen Janna,
I have been writing about this myself at my place. To know Him is to find Him in the pages of His word. Wonderful.