Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
There's two parts to our verse today. The first part says, "The LORD delights in his people." The second part is, "He crowns the humble with victory." I think that first part, that the Lord delights in His people, is one of the hardest things for us to believe in Scripture.
God Delights in You
It's not saying that God merely tolerates you and me. It's not saying that He just maintains you or me. It says that He delights in His people. That means that God takes pleasure in His children. I know myself. If I'm honest, it's really difficult at times to believe that God truly delights in me. Not just that He puts up with me. Not that He accepts me grudgingly. Not because He loves me because He's God and He has to love me, and it's out of some sort of duty. But that He delights in His people, that He delights in His children, that He loves them that much, is something that sounds almost too good to be true. Yet that is exactly what Scripture says.
God's attitude toward His child is not some sort of cold obligation. It is covenant love. It is the delight of a father in his beloved child. That's the first part.
He Crowns the Humble with Victory
Then He adds something that seems backward. It says that He crowns the humble with victory. Those people—might be you and me at times—who think they're strong and who think that they are impressive, do not, according to this verse, get the crown. It's the people who know they need mercy. It's the people who are humble. It's like that man in the New Testament who's beating his chest and saying, "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner." It is the humble. It is those who know they need mercy and cry out to God. They are those who will be crowned.
Thomas Watson, he captured the balance beautifully. He said, "The humble Christian looks with one eye upon God's grace to keep his heart cheerful and with the other eye upon his sin to keep it humble"—one eye on God's grace and one eye on my sin. That's it. I'm not just wallowing in my sin, and I'm also not pretending that I'm worthy of God's love.
Through Christ
It's understanding that I'm not deserving of God's love. Yet I have God's love by His grace. It's this double vision I need to have that understands my sin but also sees my Savior. God does not delight in you despite your weakness. He delights in you through Christ, sees you as perfect in Christ. It means that all of your weakness is covered and all of God's grace through Christ belongs to you.
Do you actually believe it? We say it, we read it. But do you actually believe that God delights in you? Or are you still trying to win His approval?
