I delight myself in him and he delights himself in me.
Ps 18:1-21
1I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
2The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
4The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
5The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
6In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
8There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
9He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
10And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
13The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
14Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
15Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
17He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
18They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
19He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Wow, what a powerful portion of scripture.
To think the our God is the wonderful, powerful, awesome, deliverer and redeemer of man.
To think that for me he will move heaven and earth, friend or foe, whoever may stand against me.
- You are precious to God.
Probably the single most difficult thing for us as believers to accept is just where we stand in the sight of God.
For when we are in Christ, not only are we a new creation, having old things passed away and all things become new, but we are also perfect, spotless and beautiful in his sight.
The rightousness we possess is not our own, it is of Christ.
And the rightousness of Christ is perfect.
So when we stand before the throne of God … Whether it be now, at judgment or sometime in eternity … we stand bold and sure.
Before we can ever understand where we truly stand in God’s sight, we must learn the principle of adoption.
Rom 8:13-17
13For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
We have been purchased with blood.
The blood that washes away the sins of the world has never lost it’s power.
That precious blood still flows from Calvary and it is by that blood that I am part of the family of God, accepted in the beloved and standing pure before God.
When we are pure before God, he takes us to his heart, as his chosen child.
What a special child, a child of blessing and one that is privileged, we are.
He loves us so much that he would give anything for us.
He would even give anyone for us.
Isa 43:1-4
1But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
You are the apple of his eye.
Zech 2:8
8For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
- We are chosen of God … But to be blessed of God we must delight ourselves in him.
Ps 37:3-7
3Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
7Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him:
What exactly does it mean to "Delight thyself in the LORD?"
It means to find pleasure, fulfillment, contentment, happiness and estacy in the Lord.
In other words whatever we need, whenever we need it, we find in him and his joy in our strength because we have found in him we can trust.
What a wonderful place indeed to dwell, in that place where we have peace, joy, love and rest in the Holy Ghost.
We know our God, our rights, and our privilege and he is our delight.
It is pure joy to walk with Jesus every day.
When we delight ourselves in the Lord, we can’t help but be happy and blessed.
Isa 58:14
14Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
We have God’s word on it. We will be blessed when we just simply take our delight in him.
- When we delight in him he delights himself in us.
This is the part of this message that truly set me back and caused me to literally cry before the Lord knowing that not only am I delighting in him, but he is also delighting in me.
When I feel love toward him, it causes him to feel that same love toward me.
When I feel passion for him, he feels it for me.
When I meditate upon him, I must understand that he is (as always) meditating upon me.
19He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
David says "He brought me into a large place…"
He blessed me abundantly and caused my boarders to be enlarged.
I am blessed beyond measure, because when I delighted in him, he also delighted in me.
And he has poured out blessings in abundance that I cannot contain them.
Notice what David said in verses20 and 21.
20The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
My righteousness, my cleanness, my faithfulness and my commitment (which is my delighting in the Lord) has brought all these blessings on me. Because he is delighting himself in me as I delight myself in him.
The thing that is really inspired about this particular passage is that it is not only in the Book of Psalms 18, but it is also repeated again, word for word, 2 Samuel the 22nd Chapter.
What this tells me is that God in his infinite wisdom thought this passage so very important that he through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost inserted it in duplicate.
What a powerful thing, to realize that God is delighting himself in me.
When I am delighting in him, he is also delighting in me.
Conclusion.
We have a wonderful savior and a wonderful privilege today.
God loves you more than you’ll ever know.
When you first understand how much he loves you, then you will love him as you should.
When you love him as you should, you will be delighted to do his will and his word.
When you do his will, he will delight in you, and his blessing and glory will be upon you.
As the old song says… "When the praises go up, the blessings come down."
When we praise him, he sends his glory upon us.
When we sing to him, he sends a new song to our soul.
When we delight in him, he delights in us and we have blessings beyond measure.
For not only are we his child, his chosen child, but we are also his friend, that he loves to spend time with.