Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Read that verse again…What a glorious promise and picture of God’s delight in his children! Do you feel God’s pleasure in you?
In the film ‘Chariots of Fire’, we see the stark contrast of fear and pleasure in the two protagonists, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddle. On one occasion, before a race, a friend says to Abrahams: “I hate losing. How about you?” Abrahams replies: “I don’t know, I’ve never lost.” Then later in the film, having already lost the 200m, he’s now about to run the 100m, when he says to the friend: “I’m forever in pursuit and I don’t even know what I’m chasing. You know, I used to be afraid to lose. Now I’m afraid to win, because I only have ten lonely seconds to justify my existence. And even then I’m not sure I will.” He does win and in record time, but he goes away as the loneliest man on earth, and with a huge sense of despondency. He thought he’d accomplished what would bring meaning but it let him down. Then we come to a scene in which Liddle is about to run the 400m, and there is a flashback to a conversation with his sister. She is worried that he is too caught up with his running, at the expense of his calling to China: “Eric, when are you going to stop?” He replies: “God has made me for a purpose – for China. But he’s also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure. To not run would be to hold him in contempt.”
How about you? When do you feel his pleasure? Stop living someone else’s life. Seek God, surrender to him, walk in obedience, and he’ll delight in using you.
Lord, I want to feel your pleasure. Show me the way today. Amen!
Leave a Reply