Chocolate cake – 27 May 2020

My son has just turned two, and for his birthday I made chocolate cupcakes and let him ‘help’ with the icing. Surprising absolutely no one, “coclate!” is now both his favourite food and his favourite activity. If he likes it, it must be good for him, right? Of course not! I would have a lot of explaining to do at his next dental checkup, and our kitchen would never recover.

Our passage for today has sometimes been misunderstood to mean that God will give us whatever we want if we delight in him. But considering that the child in each of us often wants things that aren’t good for us, we need to know that this is not talking about getting what we want but about getting a new set of wants.

The Bible says our desires are naturally corrupt and deceitful (Ephesians 4:22). We can’t trust them. We need God to give us new and healthy desires. But how? Psalm 37 tells us: Delight in the Lord. Seek him. Know him. Find out what pleases him (Ephesians 5:10).

To allow us to know God as deeply and intimately as God wants us to know him, Jesus Christ lived with us so that we could meet him in person. He showed his love in countless ways, taught and challenged us to live for God’s kingdom, prayed for us, gave up his own life as the payment for our sin, and rose to life again in victory over sin and death—all for our sake! To know God is to know Jesus and take delight in him.

When we delight in God, we’ll find ourselves doing what God does. When we’re familiar with God’s way of dealing with people, his ways will become our ways.

Prayer: Dear Lord, our greatest delight is found in you. May we delight you in all we do and say. Amen