A number of years ago just as I was starting to write my book called Oasis of Delight, I discovered that the word Eden meant delight. That discovery got my senses going and my excitement soaring! Listen to this: When God created human beings, he placed them in a garden he called Eden. In other words, he placed his amazing, unique, wonderful creation in his delight. They were surrounded by delight, they were covered with delight and no matter where they looked, they saw and breathed delight. Wow! God loved mankind so much that he positioned them to live in his joy, pleasure and delight at all times. This experience was not just designed for Adam and Eve, for we too have been placed in his wonderful all-encompassing delight.
In the Bible God tells us that he takes great delight in each of us. He rejoices over us with singing and finds much pleasure in each one of us! We are not worthless individuals, indeed before we were born, God poured his delight into us! Even before we took our first breath, he was drenching us with his love and pleasure. We were created to live, breathe and be covered daily with his delight. The Bible tells us that no matter who we are, each of us is a person of great worth and immense value. What a message we need to learn and to share with others around us. We all need to know we are loved.
The truth is that the Lord delights so much in us that he sings over us every day. Whether we hear his voice or not, he fills the universe and beyond with his many melodies of love, joy and pleasure in us.
One day, as I was out for a walk with the Lord, I asked him to speak to me. I looked across a field and saw some trees in the distance. As I looked, I concentrated on the weeds that were growing around the bottom of the trees. I said to the Lord, “What a shame that those trees have such a lot of weeds around them.” The Lord replied, “Nancy look up and see the immense beauty and majesty that is in each of those trees. They are all so incredibly beautiful. Don’t look down; instead look up!” I looked up and was suddenly blown away by the intense beauty I saw. I could have missed it by concentrating on the problem areas.
So many of us don’t see ourselves the way the Lord sees us. We concentrate on the ‘weeds’, giving attention to the difficulties and problems in our lives, instead of seeing the beauty that God created. Let’s look up! Let’s see ourselves from the Lord’s perspective! Let’s delight in who he made us to be! Let him deal with the weeds in his time. Let’s remember that he surrounds us with his delight. He loves each of us so deeply and has placed us in his delight. His pleasure will forever be on you. No matter who you are this is the truth, so let’s believe it today!
