Delight Yourself in the Lord

Saturday night as my husband and I were getting ready for bed, he said something that always melts my heart. No, it wasn’t how much he loved me or even how cute I must have looked in my comfy fuzzy PJs (LOL). What he said was, “I had fun with you today.”

That day, we had tried a new restaurant in the morning and then (for the first time that I can ever remember in our relationship), we watched 3 movies back to back! While my husband enjoys unwinding with some screen time, I can hardly ever sit still long enough to get through an entire movie unless I’m doing like three other things at the same time. But Saturday, we just enjoyed being together…on purpose instead of just as background noise in our relationship. We didn’t wake up that morning with epic movie-watching plans; it just happened, and it turned out to be such a great day. So, of course, I said, “I had fun with you today, too.”

Then, I realized how often we actually say this to each other. I think, without realizing it, I stumbled upon one of the core values in our marriage – to have fun together! And it’s something we really are intentional about – we ride motorcycles together, go on trips together, try out new restaurants together, and enjoy having a million inside jokes together.

But standing in the kitchen this morning, I started digging deeper, wondering if there were any other lessons to uncover. Then I began thinking about my relationship with God and if there might be any connections. I almost laughed out loud imagining God telling me during my evening prayers that He had fun with me that day…then, it became the most beautiful picture of complete surrender to God.

I stood there imagining all the ways that God and I have had fun during a day. I thought of beautiful sunrises and sunsets my Artist Friend has painted. I thought about all the little “God winks” throughout the day that let me know He cares. I thought about all the times I’ve felt that tug on my heart to say something to someone and felt the joy of actually doing so. And I thought about all those big belly laughs – the laughing until you cry (or snort) and start laughing all over again!

Then I thought, what if I’m crazy?!? I mean, imagining God giving me a virtual spiritual fist bump at the end of a fun day together…I know how that sounds. So, just as I began talking myself out of it, a verse came to mind. “Delight in the Lord…”

Ha! I was onto something, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember the rest of the verse, even though I was sure it was one I knew by heart. I headed downstairs to my computer, the whole time repeating the same phrase, “Delight in the Lord…” “Delight in the Lord…” No luck – I couldn’t come up with the rest of the verse.

I searched it up online, and almost had a literal face palm moment…

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

You see, every time I thought of that verse, I had focused in on the second half about God giving us the desires of our heart. Sometimes it was as part of a prayer asking God to fulfill a dream I had for my life or answer a big prayer request, and other times, it was surrendering my dreams in exchange for His will. But either way, I’d focused way too much on the second half, because there in black and white was the part that I’d been dreaming up in my kitchen – having fun with God, truly delighting in Him.

So, now, I plan on being even more intentional about seeing all the ways I can delight in the Lord – more belting out Toby Mac lyrics on my way to work, more impromptu solo dance parties in the kitchen, and more opening my eyes to the God of joy who asks me to delight in Him!