God of Delight

Why do you think God saved you?

Sometimes, when I'm reading the Old Testament, the words of Moses jump out at me. Over and over again during the Exodus, Moses keeps pleading with God not to destroy His people because, Moses says, if He does, then the whole rest of the world is going to talk about how God wasn't even powerful enough to save His own people and how He let His wrath get the best of Him. No, says Moses, it's better that God keep putting up with His people so that no one thinks less of Him, so that His reputation can stay intact. So maybe, I think, God saves me because He's concerned about His reputation - I mean, if the Lord of all Creation can't save one measly person like me, how all-powerful can He really be? 

Other times, I think about messages I have heard throughout my life in the church. Messages like, you exist for God's glory. And so I start to think that perhaps God has saved me because I am supposed to somehow bring Him glory. Something about me is supposed to bring glory to Him, and I can't do that if He lets me die. So He saves me for His own glory. 

We just finished up Easter week, and sometimes, I think about the sacrifice of Jesus. Such an extreme thing, such a dramatic thing. God's only Son, coming to live in flesh and die a horrible, excruciating death. It would be terrible if all of that was in vain. So sometimes, I think that God saves me because He's already paid for it; it'd be a shame (an even greater shame) for the Cross to go to waste. 

Then, I read in 2 Samuel the real truth about things. Not that there might not be a nugget of truth in each of these ideas, but the heart of the matter is right there in one of David's victory songs. The king sings, "He led me out onto a broad plain; He delivered me because of His delight in me." 

And there it is. 

God has saved me because He delights in me. Because, if we were to use another term, He loves me. 

The same is true for you. God has saved you because He delights in you.