Week 2 | Connection: In the Gaze of God, Matthew 3

The Father affirmed to Jesus that He took delight in Him. While we may think of delight in purely sentimental terms, it is much more robust and concrete than a mere feeling or emotion. It may contain emotion, but the force of delight is involvement and empowerment. 

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and foretold the coming “servant of the Lord” (or, Messiah):

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him … Isaiah 42:1 

The first line contains parallel phrases. “My servant” and “My chosen” are connected. “Whom I uphold” and “in whom I delight” express parallel ideas as well. The Father delights in the Son and He upholds Him. Specifically, He “upholds” as He puts the Holy Spirit upon Him. We see this in Christ’s baptism as “the Spirit of God descending like a dove … coming to rest on Him” (Matthew 3:16).

To delight in someone is to be actively involved in their lives. In Philippians 2:13, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  The word eudokia (translated as “good pleasure”) is the same word the Father speaks over Jesus at His baptism. So too, just as God the Father is delighted with Jesus, He delights over us and works in our lives. He is involved. Like a parent who shows up to their child’s soccer game or helps with homework, God is not distant or aloof, but actively involved.

We see this expressed beautifully in Psalm 18:19 as David says of God:

He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

When we receive His delight, we see how He is involved and how He is with us. As we receive God’s delight, we perceive God at work in the world around us. In many ways, this is the fruit of contemplation – to see God.

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:3). The one who is pure in heart desires or delights in one thing. That “one thing” is God Himself. The pure in heart meet God’s delight with their own. Psalm 37:4 echoes this reality: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” We meet His delight with our own and we receive the desires of our hearts because our desire is Him.

To delight in God is to desire and to be involved with Him – to see what He is doing and to participate. When our delight meets His delight, we trust that He is at work even when we can’t see it. Often, we do not see what God is doing in the moment, or see what He is doing until later, but delight keeps us waiting.

We watch and wait with a sense of joy and freedom, because God is always delighting in us. Over time, as we learn to wait and watch, a spirit of gratitude and a sense of His love takes hold in our hearts. We see even when we don’t see. Thomas Merton observed, “To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us — and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.”

When our desire and delight is God, we see His delight. We see and know, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). 

In this moment, take some time to see with the eyes of your heart. Quiet yourself before Him and delight in Him. Ask that you might see God’s delight in and around you.

Prayer: Lord, I receive Your delight. I trust that You are involved and active in my life and the world around me. May I see with Your eyes. Amen.