Episode #38 God Enjoys You – What God Sees

I want you to think about someone that you genuinely enjoy spending time with. It could be someone in your present season, and I hope it is, but it may also be someone from a season past, but just someone you couldn't wait to be around.

Maybe you have memories of going to special events or trips and you'd wake up in the morning and you just know it's going to be great because you get to share that experience with that person. Now, what if I told you that God feels that way about you? If that feels a little too far-fetched, or even if that just feels familiar, like, oh yeah, I, I've heard that before. I want us to stop and reframe our outlook on this today.

I feel like I'm exposing some of my own insecurities in talking about this. But there are times when I feel like God knows me, but isn't necessarily thrilled about it. Like he allows me to come near, but it's more like uh, okay, yeah, like that would be the right thing for God to do. Like he's somehow trapped himself into it because of his character and nature and that he loves everyone. But all of those are broken beliefs and misunderstandings about him. And if you have felt that way, I wanna encourage you, those are misbeliefs and broken perspectives about God's care for you.

God delights in you. God delights to spend time with you. In 1 John 3:1-2a it says,

"See what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now."

We are God's kids. We get to draw near as his beloved, not as those who are like sneaking in because God so loved the whole world that we got lumped in with everyone. No, we, individually and corporately, are his beloved.

I'm also going to read from Zephaniah 3:14-17. It says,

"Sing aloud, O Daughter of Zion; Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O, daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgements against you. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil on that day. It shall be said to Jerusalem, "Fear not O Zion. Let not your hands grow weak. 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.""

That is also true of us. God rejoices over you. He enjoys spending time with you. He enjoys the times that you engage. He enjoys being around you. He enjoys when you come near. He enjoys when you are aware of him. He is a father who celebrates you.

When I think about ways that God engages with me, I typically would think about how he transforms me, how he renews me, how he forgives me, how he loves me, how he comforts me. I don't typically think about how he enjoys me, and that perspective has been really challenging to me because I don't always think of myself as being particularly enjoyable by the Lord. I can focus on my faults, or my flaws or my mistakes, but even in the needs that we have, even as we see in Zephaniah that God's people are in need of forgiveness. God takes away the judgment, and he says, "you don't have to fear anymore".

"Your hands are no longer going to be weak. I rejoice over you. I'm in your midst." I tend to think of reasons that God would rejoice over me as being my strengths. If I were to think of reasons why God would enjoy me, it would be because I was doing a particularly good job. And I do believe that God celebrates our growth and rejoices with us when we rejoice. But I also believe that his enjoyment of us isn't dependent on our strength or our abilities. He covers all. He provides for all. We are his beloved and we get to draw near.

And so the question that we have to go ask God today. Is to ask him about what he enjoys about us.

God, what's something you enjoy about me?

The first time I asked God a question like this, it was difficult for me. And honestly, it felt kind of like an insignificant type of question. But over the years, there have been multiple times when I asked God a version of this question, "God, what's something that you delight in about how you made me? God, how would you describe me? What are the beautiful words you would use to describe me?" And every time he has an answer. Every time there is something that he celebrates in who he made me to be. Every time there is something that God enjoys about who I am, or the way that we connect, or how our relationship is growing.

And so, I invite you, ask God this question. If one of the other examples feels like a better fit for you today, go ahead, use one of those instead. I believe God wants to talk with you about his delight in you as his beloved.

So, ask him: God, what's something you enjoy about me?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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