His Delight
Ever feel like a worm?
Well, take heart - God delights in you!
He loves to rescue us.
Psalms 22:6-8 NIV
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the
people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 "He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."
Mackenzie, my 4th grandchild, 8 weeks old
in this picture, brings me great delight
as I hold her and look into her face.
The only thing she has done
to fill my heart with delight is live.
I am blessed because I have a wonderful family
and friends that fill my heart with delight.
*In 1994, I was vacationing with my family on the Saginaw Bay.
It was a beautiful evening and I was cruising
in my boat about 30 miles an hour
when my boat jerked to the right.
The anchor ropes burned through my skin
as I was thrown from the boat.
As the boat circled,
I swam until I could swim no longer.
Each time I went under the water
I felt my body going deeper.
After struggling for a while,
I realized as I came to the surface
this would be my last time;
my intentions were to inhale as much water
as I could to end my suffering.
It was at that last breath
I heard a voice
that seemed to come out of nowhere:
“Can you grab hold of the pole?”
After being taken to the hospital and released,
I laid in the motor home not able to comprehend that I
was alive
and the Lord spoke to me out of Psalms 18…
“4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed
me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around
me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears…
16 He reached down from on high and took
hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for
me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my
disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
19 He
brought me out into a spacious place;
He
rescued me because He delighted in me.”
From that time till now
I can hardly read these words without crying:
“He
rescued me because He delighted in me.”
This Psalm tells us God gets angry when we are under
attack;
and He will move heaven and earth to come to our
rescue.
If you can say verses 1-3 of Psalms 18 like David did,
than the rest of the Psalm ought to apply to you.
If parents and grandparents take delight in their
children,
how much more will our Heavenly Father take delight in
you, His child!
*Attached, please find a more complete story of my boating accident.
Scripture Reading
Psalms 18:1-50 NIV
I love you, O LORD,
my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock,
my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in
whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and
the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call to the LORD,
who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction
overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death
confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his
ears.
7 The earth trembled
and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because
he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his
nostrils;
consuming fire came
from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the
heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the
cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness
his covering,
his canopy around him
— the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the
brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and
bolts of lightning.
13 The LORD thundered
from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
14 He shot his arrows
and scattered [the enemies],
great bolts of
lightning and routed them.
15 The valleys of the
sea were exposed
and the foundations
of the earth laid bare at your rebuke,
O LORD, at the blast
of breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD has dealt
with me according to my righteousness;
according to the
cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept
the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God. 22 All his
laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been
blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.
24 The LORD has
rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the
cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful
you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you
show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you
show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the
humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, O LORD, keep
my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I
can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
30 As for God, his
way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield for
all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God
besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms
me with strength and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet
like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands
for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You give me your
shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me;
you stoop down to
make me great.
36 You broaden the
path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.
37 I pursued my
enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. 38 I
crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.
39 You armed me with
strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.
40 You made my
enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for
help, but there was no one to save them
- to the LORD, but he
did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine
as dust borne on the wind;
I poured them out
like mud in the streets.
43 You have delivered
me from the attacks of the people;
you have made me the
head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me.
44 As soon as they
hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me.
45 They all lose
heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The LORD lives!
Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!
47 He is the God who
avenges me, who subdues nations under me,
48 who saves me from
my enemies.
You exalted me above
my foes; from violent men you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will
praise you among the nations, O LORD;
I will sing praises
to your name.
50 He gives his king
great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,
to David and his
descendants forever.
Psalms 35:27 NIV
27 May those who
delight in my vindication
shout for joy and
gladness;
may they always say,
"The LORD be
exalted,
who delights in the
well-being of his servant."
Psalms 37:23-24 NIV
23 If the LORD delights
in a man's way,
he makes his steps
firm;
24 though he stumble,
he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds
him with his hand.
Psalms 147:11 NIV
11 the LORD delights
in those who fear him,
who put their hope in
his unfailing love.
Proverbs 3:12 NIV
12 because the LORD
disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son
he delights in.
Proverbs 11:20 NIV
20 The LORD detests
men of perverse heart
but he delights in
those whose ways are blameless.
Proverbs 12:22 NIV
22 The LORD detests
lying lips,
but he delights in
men who are truthful.
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