By Kathryn Mann
Driving to your childhood home with your daddy waiting—arms open wide to welcome you, his darling little girl. Catching your husband smiling at you when he spots your graceless dance moves in the kitchen. Receiving a five-minute audio message from a friend who just has to tell *you* all about her day and eagerly waits to hear your voice responding.
These are moments I am keenly aware of others’ delight in me. When I know I am not just loved but enjoyed. How often do you feel that way of God? When (if ever) have you been aware of the fact that He does not just love you—He likes you?
A couple months ago, Kelly Kapic came to speak to the women at our Women’s Retreat about the delight God has for us. Listening to this message was groundbreaking for me to hear because I so often shy away from this fact that the Word makes abundantly clear—God likes you.
Kelly was able to voice what I have been feeling for years but never even realized. Sure, I knew God loved me. How could I ever deny that fact? I was raised singing Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so! But knowing you are loved by someone is a lot different than knowing you are enjoyed. That someone is fond of you, and you can make that person smile just by being you. That there is a soft spot for you in someone’s heart.
I often believed that God simply put up with me. That He loved me enough to send His Son for me. That He loved me because He saw Jesus in me, but He could not actually take pleasure in me, Kathryn—flawed and foolish. He can love me, sure, but He could never actually fancy me.
But God does delight in me. He delights in you.
Psalm 18:19Â He rescued me because He delighted in me.
Psalm 17:8Â Keep me as the apple of your eye.
Psalm 149:4Â For the Lord takes pleasure in His people.
1 Peter 5:7…because He cares for you.
Ephesians 2:4Â But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us
Hosea 2:19 And I will betroth you to me forever…
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I know live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.Â
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only son…
If you are like me, you may emphasize God sending His Son for you. You may look at God’s love being like a blanket for the world—not necessarily for you. I don’t want to deemphasize our desperate need for Christ, but I want us to see the great love that God has for each of His children—the great love He has for us even when dead in our trespasses (Ephesians 2:8). The whole story of redemption is wrapped in the fact that God truly enjoys His people and wants to dwell with His people; therefore, He sends His Son to cover our sins so that He can be with us eternally.
God enjoys you. He adores you. He is your Creator, and He made you uniquely and wonderfully and beautifully (Genesis 1:27, Psalm 139:14). Yes, in need of sanctification, but He likes you, dear sister. His love is particular. He is fond of the particular you. No, He doesn’t like your sin. He wants you to change to become more like Him. And He is not afraid of convicting you of areas needing change in your life. But these facts do not negate the fact that He delights in you.
I often clump anything “Kathryn” into the “bad bin of sin.” But your personality, your talents, gifts, passions are not sinful. Sin has tainted all of us drastically, but we were knit together by his divine hand, created good and purposefully the way that we are. We need to stop trying to change everything about us and start focusing on the sin. Get rid of the sin. Do not get rid of you.
I think about some of my particulars. The way I sing so badly yet loudly on karaoke, and I can just see God looking at me and smiling at my pursuit of fun and enjoyment of song. I think about the way I cry so easily when watching a movie and a dog is sick or harmed. God feels pleasure in my tender heart for animals.
What is it for you? Think about some of your particulars and ask God what He thinks. Ask to feel His enjoyment of you! This is not a call to boast of ourselves, and this is not a call to surrender from becoming more like Christ. This is a call to consider how God adores you. When reading Scripture, take in God’s delight in His people—in you! Because when we do this, we can enjoy God all the more.
We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We delight in God because He first delighted in us.
