Delight in the Deliciousness of the LORD

This morning God brought me some new thoughts.  He took me to the interlinear Bible I had downloaded onto my computer, where I can look at the Hebrew or Greek or any verse of the Bible.  This morning I studied through the 10 commandments in Exodus 20.  Amazing.  I have never looked at them in this way.  I have new thoughts about almost every verse.  I don't know if I'll have time to write about all of them, so I'll start with the last one, because it is possibly the one that struck me the closest.

In the King James we read in Exodus 20:17, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour's."

The first translation of the Hebrew word for covet is "to delight in, and then gives a list of things you might delight in, including, "beauty, desire, goodly, pleasant (thing), precious (thing).

I had not understood the word covet before.  I think the definition was much more tame, something like "want", but really thinking that I shouldn't want something so much that I wanted to take it.  But I was clearly wrong.

Neighbor means "associate", which includes our neighbors, but also includes our brothers, companions and others.

House not only means the structure, but includes the household, and the family, and the things the house contains.

Then the verse goes on to list some of the things contained in a household, including his wife (really all the women in his home), his male and female servants, his bullock and his donkey (would this be his cars, and tools, in modern times),

So, in my journal, I rewrote this text as meaning in English, "You shall not delight in or desire the house and/or household  of your associate; his women, his servants, his bullock, his donkey or anything of his whole property."



More personally, and from a female's perspective.  I should not desire or spend my time delighting in the beauty of another woman's clothing, hair, face, or looks.  I shouldn't be desiring the possessions of my friends, or any other women in magazines, on the street, or on TV.  I shouldn't wish for their furniture, their apparent comforts, the luxuries of their cars or lifestyle.

And God is right, when I'm looking at what others have, and I don't have, I'm not happy.  It makes me envious of another person.

What is God's solution for this problem?  The answer came to me, "Delight thyself also in the LORD, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."  Psalm 37:4.
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To the Interlinear Bible I go.  "Enjoy the deliciousness (luxuries) of YAHWEH, and He shall give you the askings of your heart."

Could it be that there is something more delicious and luxurious the the fashions, hairstyle, good looks, furniture of my neighbor?  Could my God be the most delicious luxury that my heart desires.  Who else gives me the "askings of my heart".  My husband can't even do that very often.  But the eternal, supreme, God, my God, can, and desires to do so.

So today, Valentines day, instead of delighting in what my associates, or other people possess, I'm going to delight in the one who loves me, and gives me the desires of my heart.  There is so much to praise God about today.




And that takes us back around to the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other God's before me."  Is there any other God like YAHWEH?  Is there anything or anyone on earth that compares to YAHWEH? Could it be that his commandment is about love too?  God isn't trying to keep us from something that we desire, He is trying to get us to focus on what our heart truly desires, and will satisfy us through and through, Him.  He isn't just another person.  He is the self-existent, eternal God.  And He loves us.

An enemy is trying to distract us from what my heart truly desire.  He is trying to get all of us to look away from God.  He makes makes cheep things look attractive.  He tries to get us to covet things that won't help us one bit, so we won't have time to seek after a relationship with the one who really loves us, satisfies to the core, and gives us eternal life. But we don't have to be tricked.  We have the word of God, and the 10 commandments to give us direction.  They are all about the love of our delicious God.

And by studying them my heart was satisfied this morning with His deliciousness.  What an amazing valentines story!  Much more to be desired the all the red-wrapped chocolates  in the stores!