148. Delight in the Lord
Isaiah 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
The Lord is my delight; He is pleasantness; He is the source of all joy; He fills me with gladness; and so on. Not only is it true that, “I delight myself I the Lord,” but this is a promise from God. God promises: “You will find delight in the Lord, and you will rejoice in Him.” But this is a conditional promise in Isaiah 58. The condition is prayer and fasting, but not the outward ritual of giving, praying and fasting: this is condemned by Jesus in Matthew 6:2, 5, 16. It is honest and heartfelt repentance, being convicted of sinfulness by the Word and Spirit, and believing in the forgiveness of sins by grace in Christ. Thus the condition is seeking the Lord with an honest and good heart through repentance and faith in the Gospel. We do not seek the joy and thrill, although when the condition is met, joys and thrills will come according to God’s will and promise.
Joy is a promise; it is pleasant result of believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The delight is not always in the emotions, but it is guaranteed to be present, deeply abiding in the heart. He promises that we shall “ride upon the high places of the earth.” This is a metaphor for the soul soaring above the circumstances of life on earth surrounded by sin and death. The Lord will lift our spirits, and He gives us a new perspective on life when we look at it from God’s point of view. He can see things in the invisible world and in the future age that we cannot see, except by faith in the revelation of the Word of God. We will indeed soar like eagles, and when we see our life from God’s perspective the things that drag us down look a lot different. The sin that besets is forgiven; the death that frightens is defeated; the devil that lies is overcome. A secondary meaning of “high places” is that we ride over and defeat the evil spirits and demon gods that are worshiped on the high places. Jesus is Lord of all, and He tramples on all the enemies that pull us down.
The Lord also promises to feed us with the inheritance of God’s people. This inheritance is the spiritual and eternal kingdom of God, where the Lord’s gracious and beneficent reign holds sway in our lives and hearts. All the promises given to Abraham and Jacob have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the love and promises of God. We confess Jesus is Lord, we submit to His Kingship, and we pray “Thy kingdom come.” To pray this prayer is to deny oneself and my own way, and trust the Lord to do the right thing in every aspect of life. We need faith to see that this will mean nothing but good for us. So we pray and believe this petition.