“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” Psalm 18:16-19
When David was a young man he wrote Psalm 18 but, in 2 Samuel 22, he sings it again when he is old. This is a perfect example of how God wants us to receive His grace…fully and freely for the rest of our lives! My favorite portion of this Psalm is the second half of verse 19, “He rescued me because He delighted in me.” This truth was not for David alone; it applies to you too. God rescued you because He is delighted in you.
God the Father, like any good parent, delights in His children. However, unlike human parents God does not expect us to perform on any level to earn His love. (He delighted in David before He rescued him.) Therefore, we know that God’s favor does not ebb and flow based on our behavior or circumstance. Whether we succeed or experience failure, are in perfect physical condition or not, memorize books of the bible or struggle to get the homework finished we are His delight. Even when we sin He ushers us into His presence with the gift of confession and repentance because He desires a close intimate relationship with His children.
Fortunately, this applies to our past as well. We don’t have to clean ourselves up for God to love us. For example, we had our first child way before I knew God delighted in me. In my quest for unconditional love I decided I would find it in motherhood. I delighted in our son but for my sake, not his. When Sean was a toddler it was clear that he was advanced for his age. This was fertile ground for an insecure woman to plant seeds of conditional acceptance. These seeds were cultivated during my own youth then preserved in the cracks of a broken heart. I didn’t know that every sour glance of disapproval was planting lies in the garden of his heart. Thankfully, God is able to pull up any lies I sowed and, by his grace, restore what has been damaged. God delights in the fact that we, as broken people, are willing to be made new and gives us this promise, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
So, when the day comes when I can no longer “do” anything for the LORD, because I am secure in the knowledge that He delights in me, I will not despair because He is my Hero who has rescued me from having to live up to standards of perfection that no one can live up to but Jesus. He loves you and me no matter what because He sees us complete in Christ. Take comfort in the wondrous truth that there is nothing that can separate you or me from the love of Christ and, in the words of Paul in Philippians 3:13-16, “…But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” We press on not to earn God’s love but to please the Father who loves us. We are free to delight Him without any fear of disapproval, failure or rejection. How refreshing!
havhope.com 