God's Delight

 My plants give me so much pleasure -- just by being themselves.  I don't ask the nadina to produce the deep rich blue of the black-and-blue salvia, and yet I can sit and gaze at the combination of both side by side in the garden.  All they ask of me is that I situate them in the right place and provide enough water for their needs.

This morning I spent about 20 minutes setting up the sprinkler to make sure that the water reached the right plants.  And then I came inside to start my daily meditation.  Imagine my delight when I read Psalm 65:

You visit the earth, give it water; you fill it with riches.

God's ever-flowing river brims over to prepare the grain. 

And thus it  is you who prepare it: you drench its furrows;

You level it, soften it with showers; you bless its growth.

You crown the year with your bounty, and abundance flows in your pathways.

The pastures of the desert overflow, and the hills are girded with joy,

The meadows are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with wheat.

They shout for joy, and even sing!

The Creator has not left us alone -- He still gazes at his handiwork and takes delight in what He has made.  He does not ask that we be different from what we are, or produce what is not part of our nature.  He delights in the differences and the contrasts -- and He still provides what we need to thrive.

The land of Israel from the beginning, as it is today, is dependent on Providence for water.  Water comes down from the mountains in the north, but it flows only through the Jordan River, a small stream that often runs dry.  That is why Jacob, after securing the birthright from his brother, also needed the blessing from his father.  In Hebrew, the words for blessing (berakah) and for pools of water (berekah) are almost identical.  The earth without God's blessing dries up and produces nothing.

And we too -- spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally -- are totally dependent on God's "ever-flowing river."  Psalm 65 says, "abundance flows in your pathways."  God's delight, much like my own and that of every gardener and farmer, is to provide water so that HIs creation shouts for joy, and even sings!  

The Holy Spirit is the water of God's abundance, and it is His joy to provide it to all who seek.  Look at Matt. 7 and Luke 11.  Jesus urges us to ask, seek, and knock for the abundance we want and need.  Like every good gardener, God's delight is that we flourish where He has planted us!