Originally published Friday, 13 December 2013.
He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. Psalm 18:19 (NIV)
This weekend I listened to a man describe a group of Zambian children seeing an escalator for the first time.
He talked about how these five year-olds sang as they walked into the shopping center, holding hands in sets of two.
Described how the moment they saw the escalators they went crazy. They let go of their partners’ hands, jumped up and down and screamed in excitement.
Something, as common as an escalator, absolutely delighted these children.
It is the idea of God delighting in me, like that, like a five year-old kid, that grabs my attention when I read Psalm 18:19.
Often I think of God as an angry old man, or at best a strict schoolteacher, waiting for me to mess up. A person who can’t wait to point out how much I need them to make something of myself.
There are times when I think God sent Jesus to die because I couldn’t save myself.
I’ve been through enough hard things in life to know that I need to Jesus to lean on, but sometimes I get so focused on the part about me being bad that I fail to recognize the role God’s love played in my salvation story.
God didn’t rescue me because he pitied me; he saved me because he loved me. (tweet this)
My rescue wasn’t dependent on my bad behaviour but on God’s love.
God didn’t save me because of the mess I made, or the mistakes I try to hide, or because he needed to fix my life. He rescued me because of his love for me.
Could it be that the extravagant grace of God is moved not by my sin, but by his love? (tweet this)
If that’s true than there really is nothing that can separate me from the love of God, nothing I can do that could make God stop delighting in me.
Nothing I do, could change how God feels about me, because his salvation would not be dependent on what I do, but on who I am.
And who I am is a delight to God.
I read the Psalm again: God brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
This time I picture God as a 5-year child seeing an escalator for the first time. I see God bouncing up and down, clapping his hands and exploding with joy over me.
I let the truth sink in.
God delights in me. Period. (tweet this)
Ponder: Do you believe God delights in you? Is it easy or hard for you to believe that God’s love for you is based on this delight and not on what you do?
Prayer: Lord, open my eyes to how much you delight in me. Amen.
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