Psalm 119:35 (ESV)
‘Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.’
The word delight means ‘extreme pleasure’, ‘to be pleased greatly’, and it requires something or someone to give the pleasure. The psalmist is saying that the LORD’s commandments, his Word gave to him great pleasure, and it gave him great pleasure to walk in obedience to the commandments.
In Psalm 119 the word delight appears ten times, (ESV) you can see the occurrences in verses 14, 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 147. We have all probably heard of and even tried what is called a ‘Turkish Delight’ it is a little like marmite, you either hate it or love it, in this psalm we have ‘Testimony Delight’ and the challenge today is how much do we delight in the Word of God, are we picky over it, taking the bits we enjoy and leaving out the rest or do we truly delight in it all, the good bits and the hard bits!
In a previous psalm we read the words, ‘Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!’ (Psalm 112:1) Here the word blessed means happy, or extremely happy is he who (a) fears the LORD (b) who greatly delights in his commandments.
We all want to be happy; we all want to know what it is to be truly blessed, and one of the keys is to ‘greatly delight in his commandments’. This is also linked to our obedience toward the will of God, for as we read in Psalm 40:8, ‘I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.’ If you are finding your life empty, or having the feeling of helplessness or hopelessness, then you need to ask what is it that you are turning to, to find satisfaction, to fulfil the longing of your heart, what is it that your heart is turned toward, what is it that you most long for, in other words what are you seeking after while all the while you should be seeking after the Word of God and the will of God for your life. For in another psalm we read, ‘Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart’. (Psalm 37:4) Delighting in the LORD will also involve delighting in his Word, and then your desires will be met, you will be satisfied, and your life will be filled with purpose and hope, and you will know what it is to be truly blessed. Delight therefore in the Lord, delight in his Word and know what it is to have real, true delight in your life.