Where is the Delight?

Where is the delight?  That is what I come away thinking almost every Lord's Day.  Not because of the time in worship; but, after the service.  It seems there is almost a "trend" to focus upon, and talk about, one's struggles and one's "sin"-  I often have to ask for clarification; as the word "sin" is rather broad, i.e. in one sense, every breath we take is tainted with sin. 

My point?  I fear that if this "trend" continues and is adopted by new members, it will squelch anyone from sharing what a great week they had in the Lord or how joy filled they are.  It almost seems that if one doesn't take on and display a "sackcloth and ashes" attitude toward their Christian walk, they might be viewed as self-righteous, libetarian, and/or lacking humility.   For me, I will continue to delight and find joy in the Lord.

Last week, after having some of the above thoughts, this devotional appeared in my inbox.  I was comforted in reading that Spurgeon observed the same problem in the church:

Delight yourself in the Lord.
Psalms 37:4

The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the reminder of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is described as a delight in God, and we are reminded of the great fact that genuine faith overflows with happiness and joy.


Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either because of what they might get or because they are afraid of the consequences of neglect. The thought of delight in religious exercise is so strange to most men that no two words in their language stand further apart than holiness and delight.


But believers who know Christ understand that delight and faith are so wonderfully united that the gates of hell cannot manage to separate them. Those who love God with all their hearts find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. The saints discover in Christ such joy, such overflowing delight, such blessedness that far from serving Him from custom, they would follow Him even though the whole world rejected Him. We do not fear God because of any compulsion; our faith is no shackle, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.


Delight and true faith are as interwoven as root and flower, as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious stones glittering side by side in a setting of gold.

'Tis when we taste Thy love,
Our joys divinely grow,
Unspeakable like those above,
And heaven begins below.