Psalm 134; 146-150 and 1 King 9, 2 Chronicles 8

Tonight I am tackling two Bible readings at one sitting because it is already early morning!  I am so grateful to the Lord for giving me the energy I’ve needed today to complete so many tasks in preparation for the parent practicum this week.  I pray for all 131 adult attendees and 96 children…Lord, would you be with us this week as we learn together how to teach our children beyond a book?  I am weary tonight, but this weariness is of the joyful kind.  It feels wonderful to pour myself out in the service of others.

One thing especially caught my eye in the Psalms tonight….something new to me that reveals another facet in the Lord’s goodness.  Did you know that the Lord enjoys you?

³ Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.

⁴ For the LORD takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation.

The Hebrew verb for “takes delight” is ratsah.  It is used as an active participle, meaning that the action, i.e., His delight or pleasure or enjoyment, is an ongoing event.

I guess I always envisioned God as someone who can’t be satisfied with our human frailties.  It never once occurred to me that He actually ENJOYS watching my life unfold!  It’s funny how that one changed perception colors everything else in my view.  I feel rather like I did as a child when my mom or my dad told me that I did a job well!

It doesn’t seem to me at times that I will ever hear the phrase, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” come from the mouth of the Savior.  I constantly mess up and have to get back up again.  I fall short, and not just because I’m only 5 feet tall.

Let all five feet of me rejoice this week no matter how the practicum turns out…no matter what kind of bumps in the road surface…

…for He alone is worthy. His glory is far greater than all of earth and heaven.  He has made his people strong…”