Afternoon Delight

Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalms 37:23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when He delights in His way. 24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds His hand.

One of the biggest one hit wonders of the 70's was a rather cheesy song called Afternoon Delight. It was a light and lively little ditty, with overtones of sexual satisfaction In line with the tension as Song of Solomon.
Check it out:

Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight
gonna grab some afternoon delight.
My motto's always been; when it's right, it's right.
Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night.
When everything's a little clearer in the light of day.
And you know the night is always gonna be there any way.

Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.

Thinkin' of you's workin' up my appetite
looking forward to a little afternoon delight.
Rubbin' sticks and stones together makes the sparks ingite
and the thought of rubbin' you is getting so exciting.

Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.

Started out this morning feeling so polite
I always though a fish could not be caught who wouldn't bite
But you've got some bait a waitin' and I think I might try nibbling
a little afternoon delight.

Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.

Please be waiting for me baby when I come around.
We could make a lot of lovin' 'for the sun goes down.

Obviously the song is about a sexual encounter in the afternoon, not about communing with God so lets get that out first. I do believe that God wants to redeem all things for his glory, so lets pull out nuggets to be redeemed. Notice the longing desire and deep emotional captivity that this coming delight has. A hunger, sparks igniting, tempting bait all paint a picture of butterflies in the stomach anticipation of the delight that lies ahead. There is a strong longing, positioned at the deepest level of the soul that we all have felt that trumps every other thought called desire to be delighted. The object of desire in the song is pretty straight forward and doesn't need a lot of explanation.

Take the thread of a deep desire for delight in a relationship and apply it back to Psalms 37. There is the same deep soul captivating delight, it is just a Holy longing for God, not a temporal sexual encounter. What we delight in and desire will drive our lives and actions, as it holds our attention and heartstrings. Much of what messed me up in life was a church life that was a prescribed routine devoid of passion and desire. It was almost like passion and desire were bad words. I knew what to do, I was just unable to go there deep in my soul as other things gave me a deeper delight than this routine I was supposed to play before God. Passion and desire will always overcome us. It is a war we all face. I now know that it is only when God's grace highlights the joyful satisfaction we find in living our lives in communion with Him that we are set free from the captivity of being controlled by sinful and wrong desires. Oh baby - what joy this brought to my soul. Delight and Christianity weren't two parallel paths that never touched, life in Christ occurs when God's hand of grace pulls us into deep satisfaction with Him.

God built us to be overcome by our passions and delights in Him. Sin has bent those desires towards other objects to lead us away from God. Religion becomes Redemption when the Heart of a man or woman finds a true delight in the Lord and starts to see the absence of satisfaction in the things of this sinful world.

So what is your personal relationship with God like? Is it a routine? A routine coated with good theology and Church activities? If your desire and delight is not weaved into your walk with God, then your heart is somewhere else and you know it. I lived in that miserable spot for about 30 years. Ask God for a delight in Him and strive towards His arms.

Each night I pray for God to give me and my family a stronger desire in Him as he draws us closer to Himself. A deep delight in the Lord anchored in the grace of Christ is the greatest, deepest delight and joy we can ever know. And unlike the "afternoon delight" It never ends.