So often I think of God and my words are truly not enough. I can imagine His majesty, authority, or His judgment. I struggle on the other hand, thinking about other attributes like Him being creative. No doubt He created magnificent sunsets, mountain peaks, valleys lush with green, a cowy horse, different breeds of cattle for different regions of the country. I mean I am just sitting here thinking of how many great things I could talk about. Birds, lizards…oh here’s one….Horny Toads!!! Those dudes look prehistoric don’t they?
But something that is even harder for me to imagine is that God has joy. I know right????….do we ever think about Him possessing this characteristic? Joy, may even get a wimpy wrap…..like skipping through flowers type of wrap. But this is God we are talking about and how is it that it’s hard for me to wrap my head around this? I don’t see Him skipping through flowers but I see Him riding a heck of a horse and smiling just because He’s having fun! Okay, I might be out there a bit but I know He rides a horse…it says so in Revelation!! So now that I took that cow trail lets get back to this thing about God having Joy…or in other words, delight! I think I have to differentiate between joy and happiness. Joy would be a Fruit of the Spirit whereas Happiness is only temporary. Therefore since that is the case, about joy being a Fruit of the Spirit, God in fact has Joy ….we find this in the Trinity. I know hang with me because I have to paint this picture. I’m visual….sorry…can’t help it.
Now just imagine….God looking at you and the crease of His eyes becomes defined, His mouth raising at the corners to smile and you are on His radar. At that moment, He is fixed on you and feels joy. Travel with me a moment and take a look at this…………….
New International Version
The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men.
He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man.
But it is not, in no means that God looks to us so that we are worshipped. He looks at us delighting in Him. This turns His attention, when we turn our attention.
……and we can see this in the following scriptures.
The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, But the blameless in their walk are His delight.
but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
All of this for what reason? What does this mean for me? We find the answer to that is in this next statement…….
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”
It’s important for us to know that God has joy and that we get to experience this by making our lives more about Him than anything else. We may try to fill our lives with things that are temporary and that seem to bring a bit of happiness but that’s only for a short time. Joy takes us places like hospital rooms, grieving friends, job loss, and failure. Sounds strange, doesn’t it….joy in the hospital room, or joy in job loss but joy’s stability isn’t tied to circumstances but it’s tied to God. You see, It’s not the attribute that gets the credit but the credit is Christ alone.
If you’re interested in reading more about this, I found this handy little article by John Piper that is phenomenal and you can find the link below.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/why-god-tells-us-he-delights-in-his-children
What characteristic of God is hard for you to imagine? I would love to hear from you and thank you for reading……..thecowboypastorswife.
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