God Delights in You

I have three delightful little boys, ages three and under. Levi, who is three and a half, and twin brothers, Reuben and Micah, who are fourteen months old. Each morning, we wake no later than 6:30 a.m. (their choice; not mine); Levi scuttles out of his room—already full of stories and bursting with questions—while Daniel gathers the twins from their cribs to the table and I put together breakfast. Micah screams excitedly in his falsetto pitch while Reuben slaps his knees while rocking his chair. 

Once breakfast is over, we review our catechism question for the week. Levi repeats the answers back to me piece-by-piece as I read it to him, and if I offer Daniel a turn to recite it, Levi wiggles and can barely contain his pleas to let him have another turn after Daddy. I clear the dishes away and tackle whatever housework is assigned for that day while the boys scamper to the living room to begin their play. Inevitably I’ll hear Micah’s perfect, endearing giggle. If I steal a glance in the room, I’ll see Reuben beaming with a smile that takes over his entire body. Levi will be tilting a toy over to see how it works and asking Daniel all about its many functions (and if it’s broken, why new batteries can’t fix it).

I love them. Yes there are days when I lose my patience and they drive me bonkers. But I love them. And I also like them. I don’t put up with them—I delight in them. They make me keel over in laughter; can’t help but cover them in kisses as they squeal. I love them and I like them.

Have you ever considered that idea? The idea that like and love are two very different expressions? I read You’re Only Human by Kelly Kapic, and in the second chapter he discusses the difference we often feel as we consider loving and liking someone. To like someone means we delight in being with them. Love at times carries this idea of obligation—this person loves me because they have to, but do they truly enjoy my presence and like me? 

The focus of the chapter goes into considering not just God’s grand love for us, but his honest and true delight in us as his creatures and children. He writes,

Have you ever felt that your parents, or spouse, or your God loved you, and yet wondered if they actually liked you? Love is so loaded with obligations and duty that it often loses all emotive force, all sense of pleasure and satisfaction. Like can remind us of an aspect of God’s love that we far too easily forget. Forgetting God’s delight and joy in us stunts our ability to enjoy God’s love. Forgiveness—as beautiful and crucial as it is—is not enough. Unless it is understood to come from love and to lead back to love, not merely a wiping away of prior offenses, unless we understand God’s battle for us as a dramatic personal rescue and not merely a cold forensic process, we have ignored most of the Scriptures as well as the needs of the human condition.

This idea tugged on heartstrings I didn’t know were aching. While I’d never articulate to someone that I believed God merely tolerated my presence for the sake of his Son, that’s how my heart and mind operated as I thought of God’s love towards me. How could God, holy and perfect and majestic, like sinful, weak, puny me? Yet as I read through this chapter, I was forced to reckon with the truth that God doesn’t only love me but likes me. Just as I delight in my children running around at my feet and chattering in my ears, God delights in me as his beloved child. 

Actually, he delights in me much more perfectly than I ever could of my own children. Like I said, I don’t always enjoy their never-ending noise. But our Heavenly Father is “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love” (Ps. 103:8 CSB), shows us “extraordinary patience” (1 Tim. 1:16 CSB)—he never loses his patience with me. I’ve only loved my children from the moment I learned of their growing life in my womb, but God has loved and delighted in me from eternity to eternity. Despite my finitude—having a beginning and an end—God set his love and delight on me from everlasting:

As for man, his days are like grass—

he blooms like a flower of the field;

when the wind passes over it, it vanishes,

and its place is no longer known.

But from eternity to eternity

the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear him. 

Psalm 103:15–17 CSB

The Father’s faithful—unwavering, never ceasing—love is towards me. He designed everything about my personality—my quirks, my talents, my humour, my preferences—and delights in them. He created my limits and calls them good. He knows I’m made from dust because he sculpted me from it. And he still calls me his own. 

I delight in my children, with all their adorable features and oddities. And God delights in me, even more than I could imagine delighting in my own children. Let’s not forget God’s perfect, immense love and delight for us.

You May Also Enjoy…