Friday, January 20, 2006

gladness divine

(listen to this song at www.myspace.com/billwolfworship)

O Great Delight
God's lone Son, my blessed Christ
Gladness Divine
The Risen Victor enthroned on high ... O Great Delight

I've found Treasure, I've found Truth
O the sweet pleasure I've found in You
The Royalty of the universe
The Mystery of my heart's searching
O Great Delight ... Gladness Divine

O Great Delight
God's lone Son, forever reigning
Gladness Divine
The Father's joy never waning ... O Great Delight

I've found Treasure, I've found Truth
O the sweet pleasure I've found in You
The Royalty of the universe
The Mystery of my heart's searching
O Great Delight ... Gladness Divine


O Blessed Ecstasy
Holy Felicity
Great Delight, Gladness Divine
O Jesus Christ, my joy in Thee

The pursuit of our own pleasure is the motivation for which we do all we do in life. Blaise Pascal puts it this way, "All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end...The will never takes the least step but with this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even those who hang themselves."

We were made to know the intimate and infinite joy of an unhindered, unfiltered relationship with our God. The beauty and perfection that we would know in Him would be the satisfaction of our souls. Our unquenchable thirst for pleasure was designed to glorify God as our unending source of delight and gladness. But when sin entered the picture, we lost our ability to fully see and savor God for Who He is.

We lost our ability, but we did not lose our appetite.

Ever since that day, our hearts have been searching for the Great Delight, the Divine Gladness we were created for. And the amazing truth is that God, as Jesus Christ, has offered Himself that we might find Him again, our Fount of eternal joy. But too often we prefer the glittering gold and painted beauties of this world. C.S. Lewis stated, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased."

'Gladness Divine' is a celebration of the immeasurable and eternal pleasure found in knowing Christ. He is His Father's prized Jewel, and our Great Delight.

Jonathan Edwards wrote in 1755, "God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might be received both by the mind and the heart. He that testifies his idea of God's glory doesn't glorify God so much as he that testifies also his delight in it."

We've lost a bit of this in the church today, haven't we. We often speak of the joy found in Christ's blessings, but rarely the delight found in Christ, Himself. So, let's sing again with the twelfth century hymnist, Bernard of Clairvaux: "Jesus, the very thought of Thee with sweetness fills my breast. But sweeter far Thy face to see and in Thy presence rest."

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