When a couple is in love, they want to spend every waking moment with each other. They talk constantly. They share the details of their life with one another, and they are overjoyed to simply be a special part of each other’s life.
Now for the tough question:
Does our heart delight in the Lord?
Marriage is only a reflection of the spiritual relationship God longs to have with us. Anything we could ever desire in an earthly relationship, we already have offered to us in the Lord. We naturally desire to be pursued, understood, taken care of, protected, and loved with a dependable love. These desires were created in us by God, but we are quick to doubt that He is able to fulfill every one of our desires completely.
Even the best marriages will still include moments of loneliness and heartache. The same basic struggles that singles have are often found in marriage too. Married women often admit to feeling alone and unfulfilled, even those that are financially secure with a thriving career. Why is that?
Just as God created us to long for love and peace, He also created a void within us that only He can fill.
The psalmist, David, wrote: Delight thyself also in the LORD: and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalm 37:4)
If you are familiar with that verse, I’m sure you have heard the commonly used paraphrase: Love the Lord and He will give you what you want.
That definition sounds appealing, especially when you are lonely and ready for a romance, but that is not at all what this Scripture is saying.
What does it mean to “delight” in the Lord? That’s pretty unusual terminology when the subject is spiritual. To delight in someone means you take great joy and pleasure in them. It means to be caught up with excitement and satisfaction with the one in whom you’re delighting in.
Simply loving the Lord does not mean that we will have an easy, comfortable life with material possessions and perfect relationships. If we are not ultimately content in the person of our Savior, we will never be content, even with an earthly relationship or with all the money in the world at our disposal. No amount of gifts, love letters, or tender expressions can fully satisfy us because we were created to delight, first, in Christ Jesus. The more we rejoice in Him and find our fulfillment in Him, the more our heart’s desires will merge with His. If we fall in love with Jesus, the cravings of our flesh and the longings for other, earthly things will diminish because our satisfaction is firmly rooted in the love of Jesus. It is only through this Heavenly romance that we can be fully fulfilled by our earthly spouse.
(excerpted from my upcoming book)
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