This past Thanksgiving, we were in Nashville celebrating with family at my brother, Paul, and his wife, Jenny’s home. As we sat in their gathering room talking with my nieces and nephews, along with their spouses, I noticed an unusual art piece mounted on the wall that read, Beloved and below it, the scripture reference of 2 Peter 1:17. I commented on its uniqueness and asked my sister-in-law where she got it and the significance of the word Beloved. She explained that my nephew’s wife, Jessie, made it, and that that particular word was chosen to bring about a sense of curiosity and develop an opportunity for them to tell visitors to their home about their Beloved. It was an amazingly unusual piece; I asked Jessie how she went about making it. She told me that she’d discovered an old iron-works factory in Chattanooga, where they are presently living. She visits the factory every week or so to go through old and defective parts. She takes these old machinery parts, such as large nuts, bolts, and screws, to form letters that make a word taken from scripture and then attaches them to a distressed board. She writes out the scripture reference in beautiful script, on a smaller piece of distressed wood, and mounts it on the board below the word.
As we were talking about the piece, she offered to make one for us to place in our home. So, Mark and I began to search for the right word. Several of our family offered suggestions, in order to come up with just the right word. We thought about the scriptures God had so powerfully used in our lives over the past five years, we threw out words like trust, wait, mercy, grace, but none seemed to be the right word. Then Jessie asked Mark what his favorite verse was and he immediately answered, Psalm 37:3-5. “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desire. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you.” Mark says that that verse is often interpreted, that if we love the Lord, he will give us whatever we want. But, truly what it means is that we are to make Him our delight. To delight in someone means to experience great pleasure and joy in one’s presence. This can only happen when we know that person well. So, if He is our delight, we will know Him and desire to continue to know Him in a deeper and more intimate way. In desiring to know Him, He will continually give us more an more of Himself. Jessie said, “That’s it. Delight! That’s the word that is to go on your board.”
Jessie has completed our piece with the word delight. We’re waiting for my niece and her husband to make their way back to Memphis with our board. We have chosen a very special place for it to reside in our home. As I’ve thought about our new piece and the word delight, I thought about Paul, not my brother, but the Paul of the New Testament. In October, God led me on a detour from my Chronological Bible and planted me in the books of Acts and Romans. As I read these amazing books, I stood in awe of the man whose life was recorded there! Paul was willing to go wherever God sent him, he loved the unlovable, healed the sick and lame, taught the word, encouraged the discouraged, he was bold in his witness and strong in his faith. He served others, witnessed to anyone and everyone; he suffered, accepted God’s plan and purpose without complaining, and continually sought after His delight– his Heavenly father. Thus, God gave to Paul more and more of Himself.
I finished these books with a desire to be like Paul- bolder and stronger in my walk and witness, faithful to God’s call in my life, willing to go wherever God desired for me to go, serving more, loving the unlovable, treasuring His word and teaching those He desired for me to teach, willingly suffering- if need be, never complaining, and seeking diligently after the delight of my life, my Heavenly father!
As we begin a New Year, we find ourselves making resolutions. It’s usually a list of 4 to 5 things we intend to do differently in the coming year. I can’t tell you how many New Year’s resolutions I’ve made over the years. Well, let’s see I’m 56, and probably didn’t begin to make resolutions until the age of 12 or 13, so subtract that from 56, and we have approximately 43 years. Multiply that number by 3-4 resolutions a year, and you have approximately 129 to 172 resolutions or commitments that I’ve made over my lifetime. Do I remember most of them? No! I would imagine that most of them had to do with diet or exercise. But, I want this year to be different. I truly want 2013 to be the year that I delight in my Heavenly father. In 2013, I want to know Him better, more deeply, and more intimately, than I have in years past. Paul spoke of this in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead.” This New Year, I have to ask myself, do I want to know Him so deeply and intimately that I’m willing to experience pain and death? The pain and death that comes as a result of dying to self, forsaking all sin and disobedience. Am I willing to rise earlier, do without, commit more, give more, fast more, memorize more, witness more, and love more, that I may delight more and more in Him this year?
Father, it is my heart’s desire to delight in You, the One who has delighted in me, and continually draws me to Himself. Thank you for patiently waiting for me as I‘ve been in the process of growing up! I want to know You, Your word, and Your will for me this coming year in a new, fresh, deep, and intimate way. Draw me, my Delight!