The delight of the girl riding the Banshee next to mine was contagious. She couldn’t have been more than five or six years old, and the Banshee in question was part of a ride at Disney World. Everything about the ride was new and wonderful to her: a tummy tickle before take-off, swooping and swerving through a forest, water spray as we crossed an ocean, the attack of a fierce and hostile beast, and the sudden drops to deeper worlds. With each new thrill she shrieked with joy, and when it was over, she begged to go again, “Right now!”
Even though I have never met this girl, I know how to delight her—give her a ride on a Banshee. I wish everyone was this easy to please. The older people get and the more they accumulate, the harder it is to find ways to delight them. So, how do you delight God, who has seen it all and owns it all? It’s a question with which many have wrestled. The Israelites sacrificed sheep and goats, King David offered to build him a house, others have given him money or written him songs. Do these things delight him? Has anyone thought to ask?
Here is God’s answer:
Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
Since we know what will delight him, why do we keep wracking our brains to think of something else?