Ding-dong.

I rose from the couch, wondering who was at my door. The bell rang again in quick succession and the screen door squeaked as someone flung it open. 

I smiled. No one else I knew would be so audacious.

I pulled on the inner door and swung it wide.

“Surprise!” my nine-year-old nephew and six-year-old niece yelled. They and my sister had stopped by, wanting to give the gift of an unexpected visit.

How wonderful to see them! I spent the next half hour eating cookies and playing a game and being climbed on. Their impromptu visit delighted me no end.

God delights in us like that! We read again and again in Scripture about how we can delight in God. But it struck me afresh that He delights in me!

2 Samuel 22:20 shares a song of David. One of the lines particularly struck me. “He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”

Psalms 35:27 says, “May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, ‘The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.’”

Or this one: “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love” (Psalm 147:10-11.)

God’s love isn’t a mere tolerance of his ne’er-do-well children. It’s more than compulsory. He likes us. He wants to be with us. He takes joy in our presence.

Thunderstruck. That’s how I felt the first time I heard someone say, “You know, God likes you.”

I knew He loved me. But “liking me” was something else entirely. Somehow deeply personal and deeply moving.

A great big God takes pleasure in tiny me? Yup. He made me. Why would He make someone who wouldn’t bring Him joy?

The idea of bringing Father God joy may fly in the face of the “angry God” imagery so many attribute to Him. Yet any joy we experience is a direct gift from Him. How wonderful (and logical) that the source of our joy experiences joy, Himself. And I can offer that to Him? Wondrous!

Mutual enjoyment of each other constitutes part of a healthy relationship. Just as my niece and nephew delight me, so God delights in each of us. Our quirks, our personalities, our likes and dislikes, our humor … we bring joy to God.

Is this a new thought for you? Take a moment and sink into that. God likes me. God likes me. God likes me. Swim in it. Burrow deep into it. Let it envelop you. God. Likes. Me.

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