For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs” (Zephaniah 3:17).
I love my daughter.
Yeah, I know, she’s my kid so I kinda have to love her, right?
But I genuinely love her. I’m crazy about her. In fact, I’d rather spend time with her than anyone else. You might even say I delight in her.
Last weekend, we celebrated my birthday. And like any 34-year-old, I rented a bounce castle for the afternoon.
Did I actually want a bounce castle for my birthday?
Well, yeah, I kinda did.
But what I wanted even more was to see the smile on my daughter’s face as the castle began to inflate and take its shape. I wanted to hear her laughter and shouts of joy as she bounced for hours.
I delight in my daughter’s happiness because I delight in her. Her joy is my joy.
In the same way, God delights in you as His adopted son. Sometimes, He chooses to bless you for no other reason than to delight in your joy with you.
He did that for me at my party last Saturday. When all the kids ran inside to gorge on cupcakes, I stayed back to lie down in the middle of my little inflatable kingdom and rest for a few minutes. In that moment, engulfed in the warm sunshine and inflated vinyl, I heard the Lord speak to me:
“The angels and I are having a great time up here watching you kids have fun.
Oh, and I gave you this sunshine as a gift to show you my love.
Happy birthday, son.
You are my joy.
I delight in you.
Don’t ever forget it.”
