Read Zephaniah 3:17 and Psalm 149:4.
I grew up believing that God was utterly and totally disgusted with me. I was keenly aware of my sin problem, and I knew that I was not holy like God. My parenting, my religious background, my performance nature, and my hyperactive conscience all worked together to reinforce God’s disgust with me.
In the towering generosity of God, I was shown the truth about grace, mercy, and forgiveness. I learned that God was eternally “for” me rather than disgusted with me, and I trusted Him for forgiveness. I did well for a time and then slowly drifted back into a performance mentality—once again living under the disgust of God. I never doubted that my eternal life was secure, but I also never doubted that God’s stance toward me was disgust. I was His son, but He had to be fed up with me.
In an additional act of God’s generosity and grace, I came to see God’s “today stance” toward me as being “for” me—He even delighted in me. These two passages declare God’s delight in His people. If the delight I have in my wife, my children, and my grandchildren were multiplied by 10,000 or more, you would have the delight of God toward you. He is clearly “for” you—today and for eternity.
God, we’re grateful to know You are for us to the point of delighting in us. Remind us today of this truth and allow us to walk freely in it. Amen.
-from our Executive Vice-President of Field Ministries