It was Friday, May 25th. I had arrived at my family’s cabin around 11pm the night before, after a day of work and a 5 hour drive. By the time I unloaded my car, settled in to bed, and read my last devotional for the night until my eyes couldn’t stay open any longer, it was 12:30am–time for bed! Normally with a day like that under my belt I’d sleep a full 8 hours, but I believe God had something different in mind. I arose before the sun at 4:45am, but not out of a groggy slumber. Rather I awoke with anticipation, excitement for the day - what did God want to say to me? Gee God, what’s so important that calls for 4:45am? I quickly gathered my Bible and a blanket and proceeded straight to the front porch that overlooks Lake Michigan. Stepping out into the chill of the morning air I was immediately met with a loud choir of morning song birds perched high above the pines. My ears tried desperately to track the 6 or 7 different voices all weaving in and out from one another. The dynamic level continued to grow as the sun crept up along the horizon. The choir became, well, pretty overpowering, as if some of the song birds had a little “diva” in them, trying to out-sing each other. Gazing out over the crystal lake, now becoming a watercolor meld of pinks, purples, greens, greys and blues, I asked God what He wanted to say to me; what poignant message was to be gleaned that required such an early morning wake up call. You see, I went away that weekend to escape from the fray, just get quiet with God, and pray. Pray for direction and discernment and God’s leading with this upcoming album; pray for the people it will impact and that God’s Word held within those 41:59 minutes of sound would go out into the world and not return void. [1] Now I definitely didn’t expect to receive any type of burning bush experience that weekend, but I was hoping the Lord would provide some clarity as I prayed for direction. But instead of direction, what I got was a really good reminder in the character of God. I came with an agenda. I came to Him for answers. And what was God’s response? …He sang to me. Zephaniah 3:17 states,

“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.” [2]

The New Living Translation says, “He will take delight in you with gladness.” God delights in us. He doesn’t come to us with ulterior motives, He simply wants to enjoy us. I don’t know about you, but how often can I honestly say that I come to my Heavenly Father with the soul purpose of simply enjoying Him? No grocery list prayers, no “Please God, fix this,” but just, “Hey God…You’re amazing and I love You and that’s all.” Now, don’t get me wrong, God wants us to come to Him in every and all circumstances. But I’m reminded of yet another verse that touches on the topic of “delight”

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4 NLT

I’m gonna go ahead and repeat that…

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.

So what was my huge take away from my weekend away with Jesus? As I sat there wrapped up in a blanket, staring out over this serene scene the Lord painted with His own hand, I felt the quiet Voice in my soul say, “Today I don’t have a deep, ground breaking message for you; I simply wanted to sing to you.”

[1] Isaiah 55:11 [2] English Standard Version