God's Delight

Did you know that if you are in Christ, God delights in your welfare? That He isn't indifferent about what happens to you--that He isn't even just "working all things together for your good" in a detached, objective, unemotional way?

In His kind providence, He had me in Psalm 35 yesterday, where verse 27 stopped me:

"Let those who delight in my righteousness
   shout for joy and be glad
   and say evermore,
'Great is the LORD,
   who delights in the welfare of his servant!'
Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
   and of your praise all the day long."
--Psalm 35:27-28

God delights in the welfare of His servant! I am far from a faithful servant--but I am seen as one because I am covered by the righteousness of Christ the Suffering Servant. And so God is FOR me--His heart earnestly desires my good. He is not capricious or vindictive, spiteful or merciless. He doesn't even treat me as I deserve. It brings Him joy to see that I am taken care of. He smiles to see me thriving.

That means when I am *not* thriving--I must trust this revelation of His heart more than I trust my perception of the situation. God wants to see me thriving. So in any given circumstance, however it looks to me, He is at work to promote my ultimate well-being. The word in Hebrew is shalom--that word that goes far beyond simple peace but means wholeness, prosperity, life-as-it-was-created-to-be, all-is-well. God alone knows what "welfare" looks like for me--and He alone knows how to get there, and what kinds of anything-but-delightful trials I must go through to get there.

But that is where we are headed, together--both anticipating the day when I am whole and well and telling of His righteousness to others who will shout for joy and be glad in Him and say with me, "Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!"