Have you ever considered the fact that God is so committed to our well-being that he commands us, “Don’t get so busy that you aren’t taking time to find joy in your relationship with me!” That is the Yagel translation of Psalm 37:4, Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart, and Philippians 4:4, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. In both texts, we are commanded not to be passive but to take action to FIND JOY in our relationship with God. This episode focuses on enjoying God because of who he is—one who has adopted us into his family, becoming our FATHER.
Some years ago, I heard this heart-breaking story of a man who couldn’t find joy his relationship with God because he felt so dirty in his presence. Pete had been a Christian nearly all his life. But since his teen years he had been losing the battle with pornography. Desperately he fought his lust, but every new solution was temporary. Praying harder didn’t work. Feeling worse afterwards didn’t work. Getting married didn’t work. Feeling alone and ashamed, Pete struggled for ten years; but his bondage only increased. One day, he heard about a seminar on sexual purity and attended with his friend. On the way home Pete was even more overwhelmed with feelings of condemnation, and hypocrisy. He knew he had to bring his sin into the light to get help; but the thought of his wife and daughters finding out about his secret life was too humiliating to consider. The next weekend, Pete committed suicide.
Pete, like many men who have shared their failures in battling lust with me, felt like God’s basic attitude towards him was DISGUST. After all, God is holy. He made sex between a husband and wife to be a beautiful, sacred thing—and polluted images that Pete could not resist were corrupting his heart and disgusting God. Terrified that his wife and daughters might find out, the shame in Pete’s heart wracked his heart with so much pain that he chose the relief of taking his own life. Satan, the accuser of the brothers (Rev 12:10) had won another victory.
How can we find joy in our relationship with God, when we know that we are so filthy in our sin that our very presence fills him with disgust? We can’t. The starting point for enjoying God is KNOWING that he ENJOYS US—which only happens if we succeed in taking an understanding of GRACE from our heads to our hearts. Grace means that we are justified, declared righteous by God, the upholder of justice in the universe. We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. That means he does NOT see the nakedness of our evil heart and actions. Isaiah foresees this work accomplished by Christ and describes this day, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels (61:10). God sees those who are in Christ as a beautiful bride. J.I. Packer, author of the classic work, Knowing God, writes, Justification—by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past together with His acceptance for the future—is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel. It is a great source of joy.
Yet Packer goes on to say, But this is not to say that justification is the highest blessing of the gospel. Adoption is higher because of the richer relationship with God that it involves… To be right with God the judge is a great thing. But to be loved and cared for by God, the father is a greater thing. Though the OT saints were saved by grace alone through faith alone (and ultimately only by the work of Christ as Paul points out in Romans 4:3-5), the emphasis in the OT is on separation from God because of his holiness. Now that redemption is fully accomplished, the NT writers place enormous emphasis on the fact that Christ-followers have been adopted as sons and daughters of the living God into his very family. In fact, Packer goes so far as to say about adoption, The entire Christian life needs to be understood in terms of it. Sonship must be the controlling thought—the normative category, if you like, at every point. This follows from the nature of the case, and it is strikingly confirmed by the fact that all our Lord’s teaching on Christian-discipleship is cast in these terms. Here is a survey of just a few texts that emphasize our sonship.
- But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Gal 4:4-5).
- He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:11-12).
- He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will (Eph 1:5).
- Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called “children of God”—and that is not just what we are called, but what we are. (1 John 3:1-2 JB Phillips).
Three Reasons to Delight In the LORD Who Is the Father Who Has Adopted Us
1. We can experience deep love with one who delights in us. A few years ago, at this time of year, the Christmas season, a commercial showed a flight attendant standing next to a soldier in uniform who had just awoken on the plane. “Where are you headed,” the stewardess asked with a smile. The soldier answered, “Home.” For most of us, there is something very special about home. It is a place where we feel a sense of safety and security. Most of all, it is a place where we belong.” God’s covenant with his people is one of belonging to each other. This belonging is expressed in the covenant summary, I will be their God and they will be my people expressly stated in both the OT and NT. (Note the possessive pronouns their and my.) Belonging is the essence of God’s covenant with Abraham and is restated, for example, by God when he explains Moses’ mission to him:
Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will … redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God…(Ex 6:6-7). Jeremiah’s prophecy, that Hebrews tells us is fulfilled in Christ was, For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Jer 31:33, Heb 8:8-12).
Belonging to God as our covenant Lord is intimate and personal, writes Paul, who says, For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father” (Rom 8:15). Paul’s decision to use the Aramaic word for father likely stems from Jesus’ addressing God as Abba in the garden of Gethsemane. It was the word used by Jewish children and adults for their fathers. It represents a term of endearment, not just legal standing. It reflects the intimacy, the closeness that Jesus experienced with the father, that Christ-followers are invited into.
And yet, when we understand the extent of adoption, we realize that it goes even beyond closeness, affection, and intimacy. God’s adopted children are his delight. As irritating and aggravating as our children can be, every dad I know understands how this must be true, when we think about it. We just ENJOY our kids. Period. The prophet, Zephaniah, in the OT goes out of his way to point out that this attitude of delight in us by God is the promise of the New Covenant: On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (3:16-17). WE are NOT disgusting to God because of our foul sins. Christ bore all that holy hostility. He finds more delight in us than any human proud father can. The sound of our voice directed to Him delights Him. Talking with Him is a great pleasure. Drawing near to Him brings Him joy. And, the more we know HE enjoys US, the more WE will run to him to enjoy HIM!
2. He firmly disciplines us in love. According to our Lord’s own testimony, God’s fatherly relationship to him implied authority. The Son’s task is to obey the command of the Father. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me (John 6:38). Similarly, Christ-followers are to recognize that the frustrations, hardships, injustices, and disappointments we experience in this fallen world, are part of God’s training plan as our father.
Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Heb 12:5-11).
To understand this text, we need to understand that there are two categories of hardship that Scripture distinguishes. First, there are painful consequences when we sin. Angry words provoke relational breakdown. Indulging our lusts causes us to subtly withdraw from our wives leaving them unhappy. Failure to be the spiritual leaders in our homes is harmful to our kids. The painful consequences of our own moral failure are the reproofs of life. They are the splinters we get in our hand by going opposite to the grain of life—transgressing God’s command. They constitute God’s rebuke of our sin. He is spanking us.
The second category of hardship is not caused directly by OUR sin, but by OUR RACE’S sin. This is the suffering that comes from living in a fallen world. These are the painful circumstances that we did not bring upon ourselves by our behavior. The disciples did not understand this category of suffering at first. When, they encountered a blind man, they asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents. But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” God has ordained these painful trials to build our character, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The author of Hebrews lumps together both of these reasons for suffering under the category of hardship, because in both cases, God is proving his love for us by employing pain to grow us to maturity. The dad who spanks his 4-year-old son for running in the street is loving him. So is the dad who let’s go of his daughter’s bike so she can learn to balance, even though she takes a spill and scrapes her knee.
Christian counselors point out that firm discipline from fathers causes a child to become secure: she knows that boundaries are firm and she must learn to control herself and make herself adjust to reality. On the other hand, a child who is never punished for wrong behavior grows up to be self-centered, expecting the world to adjust to him. No wonder Proverbs 13:24 says, Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. At some level thirteen-year-old Jimmy understood this truth. He wrote this note to his dad:
Dear Dad,
I like the way you don’t let me get away with much. Sometimes I act mad when I don’t get my way, but deep down I am glad you are strict. I would be scared to death if you let me do anything I want. I like that you and Mom agree on the rules around here. At Tommy’s house, if his mom says he can’t do something, he goes and asks his dad because he knows his dad will say okay just to get rid of him. And then there is a fight. Kids hate it when their mom and dad fight. I like the way you tell me the truth about everything. When I grow up and have kids, I want to be just like you.
Your son,
Jimmy.
That must have been written on one of Jimmy’s better days! But it is a great model for us! Our heavenly father disciplines us perfectly. And He is not a wimp. When we push against him HARD he does NOT cave. He insists on what is best for us.
3. He is a father who loves to provide our needs. After teaching his followers to address God as Father, Jesus teaches them that two of the six principles for daily prayer were, to ask for 1) provision for their material needs and 2) help in their spiritual battles. Give us this day our daily bread…Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Fathers love to provide for their kids’ material needs. Perhaps that is because at the core of masculinity is the truth that Adam’s calling was to sweat and spend himself to provide what his family and the garden needed to flourish (Gen 2:15). When Jesus wanted to appeal to his followers to trust God’s provision for them, he reminded them of God’s provision for those who aren’t even his children. Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they (Matt 6:26)? One of God’s names is “Jehovah Jireh”—the Lord will provide. He loves it when we claim this truth about his nature.
God not only delights to provide for us materially—he wants us to bring our spiritual need for strength to him as well. Paul pointed to this part of God’s nature when describing his thorn in the flesh. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor 12:8-10).
God explained this principle to Gideon in Judges 7:2, The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ So, God paired Israel’s army from 32,000 down to 300 special forces and defeated Midian through them. Hundreds of years later, as a shepherd boy, David had learned this same lesson about God’s nature. As a puny shepherd boy, he was no match for a lion or bear who wanted to attack his sheep or against Goliath. But David understood that it was Yahweh who opened the Red Sea, Yahweh who empowered Joshua to overthrow the nations of the promised lands and that the God of Israel cared about a shepherd boy trying to protect the sheep he was responsible for. We read,
And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul… Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine”….Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head (1 Sam 17:33-37, 45-46).
I don’t know what your Goliath is. I certainly have my own. But I do know three things. First, God does not expect you to be able to defeat that Goliath on your own. There is no shame in admitting our weakness. Second, God loves to demonstrate his power in working through our weakness. Third, there is great joy in seeing Jehovah-Jireh work in your own life, when you bring your deficiency to him. John Piper writes, When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no airs of sufficiency, but run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of God’s grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied (Desiring God).
As we travel through the Christmas season, I want to close these thoughts with this final insight from C.S. Lewis about enjoying God. When you really enjoy someone or something, that joy is never complete until we express it in praise.
I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise…. The world rings with praise—lovers praising their lovers, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game… I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not only expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling each other how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete until it is expressed. (Reflections on the Psalms).
May you be full of praise during this celebration of our God’s plan to send Jesus to take upon himself every ounce of our foul sin, so that God might adopt us as his beloved sons to lavish upon us his unfathomable love!
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- Why do we have so much trouble believing that when we confess our sins to God he actually separates us from them as far as the east is from the west? Once we’ve brought our sin to God to confess it, which do you think brings stronger motivation not to sin again—continuing to feel guilty or knowing Christ’s blood was shed to fully pay for this sin?
- Why can God being a perfect disciplinarian lead to joy, since no trial or discipline is enjoyable?
- Why does it produce joy to realize God doesn’t rebuke you for your weakness but wants you to ask him to show his power through that weakness?
- What life examples lead you to agree or disagree with CS Lewis, who argues that expressing our enjoyment of God to Him in praise is the final step to completing our enjoyment of Him?
