Rejoice with Me
We are emotional creatures. We know how to love and hate, to rejoice and grieve. Our heart is part of God’s creative design, patterned after Himself. God, who can love and hate, rejoice and grieve, made us like Himself. But here is an amazing truth: Our actions can affect God emotionally. We’ll see this in more detail as we look into what God delights in. But first we must lay the foundation.
How does the Bible use the word “delight”? Our first step is to examine the English word and its various forms in Scripture. Although these words are found exclusively in the Old Testament, this is not a simple step. There are four Hebrew words translated delight in English. Here they are along with their Strong’s numbers and definitions from Spiros Zophiates’ Lexicon To The Old Testament.
• chaphets (2654): To find pleasure in, to take delight in, to be pleased with, to have affection for, to desire, to choose, to bend, to have a strong positive attraction, to like someone or thing very much (e.g., Ps. 22:8).
• chashaq (2836): Having a sense of joining together, clinging, cleaving, already bound to the object. It is a love that will not let go (e.g., Deut. 10:15).
• ratsah (7521): To be pleased with in satisfying a debt. The root word frequently describes God’s pleasure with His servants, particularly the Messiah (e.g., Isa. 42:1).
• shashau (8191): Enjoyment, pleasure (e.g., Prov. 8:30).
When studying these Hebrew words, we find the things God delights in:
1. His chosen nation
2. His appointed leadership
3. His character seen in His children
4. His children’s spiritual growth
5. His Son
God’s delight in His chosen nation
Israel holds a unique place in God’s heart. As the “apple of His eye,” she occupies a land that is the beacon of His glory. All four Hebrew words are used for the delight God has in the Jews and the land of Israel.
“If the Lord delight [2654] in us, then He will bring us into the land, and give it to us; a land which floweth with milk and honey” (Num. 14:8).
“Only the Lord had a delight [2836] in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day” (Deut. 10:15).
“For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth [7521]” (Prov. 3:12).
“Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights [8191] were with the sons of men” (Prov. 8:31).
Historically, Israel has been a source of sorrow as well as delight. However, in Isaiah’s prophetic view, this nation is seen as a crown of glory and a royal diadem in the hand of God (Isa. 62:3). Isaiah 62:1-5 also tells us that, in a coming day, the Lord will again rejoice over His people with great delight. Israel will be renamed Hephzibah, meaning “my delight is in her.”
God’s delight in His appointed leadership
Both David and Solomon, prominent kings of Israel’s earthly glory, are objects of God’s delight. In his song of praise, David states, “He brought me forth also into a large place: He delivered me, because He delighted [2654] in me” (2 Sam. 22:20). The Queen of Sheba, during her visit with King Solomon, made this observation: “Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted [2654] in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made He thee king, to do judgment and justice” (1 Ki. 10:9; 2 Chron. 9:8).
Even though these two kings were not perfect in all their ways, God looked at the heart and found His delight in His two servants. This principle is true for God’s appointed leadership today. God rewards the good work of His “under-shepherds” (1 Pet. 5:4). It is sobering to note, however, that the Lord found no delight in Israel’s first King, Saul. Saul’s disobedience was described by Samuel as that which did not delight the Lord (1 Sam. 15:22).
God’s delight in His character seen in His children
The Bible tells us that “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6). Godliness is the manifestation of God’s character in us. This can be accomplished only by the power of the Spirit as He defeats the flesh and brings forth His fruit in our lives. Paul reminds us that when our focus is on Christ, we “are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18b). God delights in having godly children—in seeing His people reflect His glory.
There are several attributes of God that we are specifically told bring Him delight when they are manifested in our lives: goodness (Ps. 37:23), honesty (Prov. 11:1), uprightness (Prov. 11:20), truthfulness (Prov. 12:22), kindness (Jer. 9:24), and mercy (Mic. 7:18).
God’s delight in His children’s spiritual growth
One of the greatest joys known to parents is to see their children walking in the truths of God and pleasing Him in their lives (2 Jn. 4; 3 Jn. 4). Likewise, God finds great delight in the spiritual growth and development of His children. Note how the psalmist captures this thought in Psalm 147:11: “The Lord taketh pleasure [7521] in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy.”
Solomon continued that thought: “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight [7522]” (Prov. 15:8). Just like our earthly parents, God finds delight in seeing His children “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).
God’s delight in His Son
God’s own well-beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, shares all the divine characteristics and virtues in which God the Father delights. Christ is the perfect Son, and God the Father desires for us to know the perfections of His Son. Christ, as wisdom personified, speaks of the Father’s delight in Him: “Then was I by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight [H8191], rejoicing always before Him” (Prov. 8:30). Even in the context of the crucifixion of Christ, the Father’s delight in His Son is mentioned: “seeing He delighted [2654] in Him” (Ps. 22:8).
This brings us to a great paradox of Scripture. God delights in the children He gains through Christ. However, in order to gain those children, He had to sacrifice His own Son, in whom was all His delight. We read of this mystery in Isaiah 53:10-11: “Yet it pleased [2654] the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure [2656] of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied.” In light of the tremendous price the Lord paid, let us live so that His delight in us can grow day by day.
Thy joy in Him who is with Thee we share;
Our hearts delight in Thy delight in Him;
Chiefest of thousands, fairer than the fair;
His glory nought can tarnish, nought can dim.
—W.B. Dick
Uplook Magazine, September 2012
Written by Sam Thorpe