Enjoying God

Sing praises to God and to his name! Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds. His name is the LORD— rejoice in his presence!

Psalm 68:4

It’s so easy to lose our enjoyment of God and his creation and to neglect rejoicing in his presence the way this verse describes. In fact, it is rare to find a person who truly enjoys God and finds delight in this relationship. There are so many demands on our time. So often our thoughts are focused on me-myself-and-I, work, worries about tomorrow, and what we need to finish today. That’s part of being human, but over and over the Scriptures bring us back to meditating on how marvelous and mysterious God is: he rides the clouds; he provides rain and a bountiful harvest. We’re encouraged to gaze at the clouds or the night sky.

When we lose our enjoyment of God, it’s usually because we’ve gotten hung up in the brushstrokes of living the Christian life and lost the portrait of the life of Christ. We’ve directed our gaze downward to earth’s cares instead of upward to God’s wonders. If this sounds familiar to you, let me encourage you to take a walk in nature and get lost in the details.

Whether you walk in a rose garden in the spring, watch a sunrise and sunset, or look at a moonlit sky studded with stars, get away from the noise of the television, computer, cell phone, and ticking clock and enjoy the Lord in the beauty of his creation. “Through [Christ] God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. . . . Everything was created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). God made the vastness of space and the boundless and beautiful world for us to enjoy. He is glad when his handiwork causes us to rejoice.

Lord, I confess I’ve become “wonder impaired” about so much, even the miracle of each new sunrise that lights up the earth morning by morning. Restore to me enjoyment of you and your creation, that I might sing your praises and rejoice all the more. In Christ’s name, amen.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

John Piper(1946–), American pastor