I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
The verse is the voice of Christ in heaven pledging to leave the heavenly courts and come to earth in a prepared human body to do the Father's will as written of Him in the book. To delight to do God's will is to obey willingly, freely, lovingly and joyfully from inward agreement with His law, with that law held within the heart as the controlling power of life. In this He magnified the law and made it honorable instead of destroying or abolishing it, proving it holy and unchangeable so that His death was necessary to save man from its penalty. His complete and lifelong obedience is the example and standard for humanity, answering Satan's claim that the law cannot be kept and showing that through grace freely given men can overcome as He overcame. Under the new covenant the Holy Spirit writes that same law in believers' hearts, so the renewed soul delights to do God's will as Christ did, while the righteousness needed for acceptance is obtained through His imputed righteousness and atoning blood.
Heavenly Voice to Come
The words are the voice of Christ heard in heaven declaring His purpose to leave the heavenly courts and come to a world seared and marred with the curse. They belong to the plan of redemption devised with the Father before the world was made, and His coming was by design and not by chance. Before His earthly life He accepted that plan to come as a human being and do the Father's will, with God's law within His heart. His delight to do God's will and keep God's law within His heart is willing obedience presented as inward and as the example for followers.
In that heavenly declaration He announces His willingness to take the body prepared for Him in place of sacrifice and offering. Hebrews 10:5-9 applies these words to His coming in a prepared human body, identifying Him as the promised Light who visits the guilty world. When sacrifice and offering were not wanted a body was prepared for Him, and on that obedience He left heaven, clothed His divinity with humanity, and came to this world to live a life of obedience in behalf of the sinful race.
He comes as written of Him in the volume of the book, to fulfill what was written beforehand about Him in His life and saving work. The announcement was heard from the throne of God with strange and mysterious import nearly two thousand years ago. Bringing self into unity with Him in that same obedience gives a thorough understanding of the foundation rock on which all can stand in unity while the dead carcasses of the past are buried so enemies have nothing to triumph over.
The declaration was fulfilled when He laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, clothed His divinity with humanity, came as a babe, and for thirty years lived as a man among men. He left His position of dignity and came to this earth as a man to exemplify what humanity must do and be in order to overcome the enemy and to sit with the Father upon His throne. He lived the life of a poor man though He was the Prince of heaven, and God's will was inwardly held and perfectly followed in His incarnation and life of obedience.
Before taking human nature He knew the suffering and insults that lay ahead on the path from the manger to Calvary, yet He embraced that path to save the lost. He knowingly accepted the suffering and hardship ahead because He delighted to do God's will, with inward agreement with God's law and willing obedience to it. His earthly life was planned with the Father, not accidental, and His choice to lay aside heavenly glory and accept poverty and humiliation was part of that willing obedience.
His pledged word to come to do God's will is fulfilled in His death on the cross. In dying He meets the type of all the sacrificial offerings, bringing an end to all sacrifices and offerings as the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. By that obedient doing of the will of God the way into the Holiest of all is laid open as a new and living way with no veil between, so sinful humanity no longer needs to wait for an earthly high priest.
After humanity fell He announced His purpose to become its substitute and surety. Though one with God, He made Himself of no reputation and took human nature, finding joy in obeying God, and that willing obedience made His sacrifice perfect in every part so He could make atonement for sin. He joyfully and voluntarily consented to take human form and chose to suffer and die to atone for sin and redeem humanity.
He came as Captain of salvation to bring men a knowledge of God and heaven. Having clothed His divinity with humanity He took the field Himself to teach men to fight the battles of the Lord against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. He entered the conflict against evil in human nature and chose to do God's will, and in His humanity He served as God's messenger of peace and reconciliation turning people from iniquity. His coming was driven by love for the human race, whose measure is Calvary, and whose significance and heavenly origin are still only half comprehended because earthly cares hide them from view.
Willing Inward Obedience
Delight to do God's will means willing, free, loving, joyful and cheerful service because it is right, with inward agreement with God's law and not reluctant duty. No sacrifice or toil is counted too great to complete the work when the law is within the heart. The joy of willing obedience belongs to one who submits with undivided affection, making it the aim to please God and to learn and follow His will in all things.
The law within the heart means God's will is inwardly held and perfectly followed, becoming the controlling power of life. Words and actions then fulfill what God requires, being all that God requires, as the outflow of God's love to humanity. Delight in God's will with the law in the heart is the constant language of the heart.
The principle binding to service is love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity, and love for God leads to delight in His will. Obedience is the expression of that love. This law of love, revealed in Eden, proclaimed at Sinai, and written in the heart in the new covenant, binds the worker to God's will and service.
Delighting to do God's will means living as head of humanity a perfect, consistent life in conformity with the Father's will. Not My human will but Thy will be done is uppermost in mind and heart as the infallible principle actuating all words and works, molding character, and conforming the will to the Father's will as all should do. That obedience was complete and lifelong, perfect to every requirement of the law, expressing a perfect character. The same enlarged heart that delights in God's will runs in the way of His commandments, as seen in David.
Law Magnified Not Abolished
The verse is the voice of Christ concerning himself and shows His regard for His Father's law, delighting to do God's will with God's law within His heart. In that delight He magnified the law and made it honorable instead of destroying, changing, or abolishing it. His delight proves the law holy and immutable, so His death to save man from the penalty of sin was necessary because the law could not be set aside. His words show the law was not abolished by His death, for He honored it as an abiding expression of God's will.
He declares that God does not desire sacrifice and offerings as substitutes for obedience, but comes to do God's will with God's law in His heart. He came not to abolish the law given at Sinai but to uphold its enduring authority. He revealed it in its original dignity and purity. Because the law could not be changed to accommodate fallen humanity, He took human nature and bore the sins of the fallen race.
God's law was the controlling power in His life, and delight in God's will with the law in His heart was the constant language of His heart. His words and actions fulfilled what God required, and were the outflow of God's love to humanity, so that in word and action He was all that God required Him to be. Before heaven, fallen angels, and those He came to save, He lived the law by supreme obedience to its requirements, exalting and enforcing it. By His purity, goodness, beneficence, devotion, zeal for God's glory, and unsurpassed love for others He made known its perfection, illustrated its excellence, and displayed the law in all its sacred dignity. He thereby impressed hearts with the force of its binding claims, corrected the burdensome unspiritual misinterpretation that robbed it of spirituality, and showed in His Sermon on the Mount that it is spiritual and reaches every phase of life. The great atoning sacrifice upholds the law, while the cross stands as the center of the world and the condemnation of every transgressor of that law.
Example Proving Obedience Possible
Christ's delight to do God's will with the law in His heart is willing, loving, free obedience, accepting no toil or sacrifice as too great, and that obedience is the example, pattern and standard God requires of human beings, showing what humanity must do and be to overcome. His earthly life was shaped in every detail to match God's ideal as the true temple for God's indwelling, presenting obedience as inward and willing for His followers to copy. Under the new covenant the same law is written in believers' hearts by the Holy Spirit, so their renewed lives bear fruits of obedience through Christ's grace by following His example, while their obedience does not establish their own righteousness.
Though Himself without spot or stain of sin He took the nature of man and bore the shameful infirmities of fallen humanity, exposing Himself to the fiercest assaults of the enemy, the sharpest temptations and the keenest sorrow. He faced temptation as a human being and suffered being tempted, made like unto His brethren, and overcame through strength freely offered by God, using no power unavailable to us. In this He showed that through given grace humanity can overcome the temptations of the enemy and even his fiercest assaults. All who stand in Christ and draw near to God may therefore glorify Him, having abundant evidence that the Saviour will be with them in their struggle against sin.
His obedience answers Satan's claim that God's law cannot be kept and shows that perfect obedience is required, while the righteousness needed to meet that requirement is obtained through His imputed righteousness. His earthly life was planned with the Father and not accidental, willingly coming to do God's will with God's law in His heart. His choice to lay aside heavenly glory and accept poverty and humiliation belonged to that willing obedience.
Receiving and keeping God's word brings the law within the heart when a person delights to do God's will, leading to obedience and a life shaped by God's will. Those who abide in Him are to walk as He walked, expressing the same fruit of receiving and keeping God's word. Delight in doing God's will goes with having His law written within the heart, and He answered hostile, accusing and unbelieving speech by recalling God's works and thoughts, delighting in His will, and openly declaring His righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, lovingkindness and truth.
Righteousness and Renewed Heart
Under the new covenant the same law that was within Christ's heart is written by the Holy Spirit in the mind and heart of the believer, so that doing God's will becomes delight as it was with Christ. Through the Spirit's work of renewal the life is made new and bears the fruits of obedience through Christ's grace, following His example and pattern. This is the law of love, revealed in Eden, proclaimed at Sinai, and written in the heart in the new covenant, binding God's worker to His will in service. Love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity is the principle that bound Him to that service and that binds His followers to the same.
His life of obedience pleases the Father and is accepted for those who trust in Him. The righteousness needed to meet the requirement of perfect obedience is obtained through His imputed righteousness, His righteousness is accepted for believers, and His blood atones for their sins. Obedience rendered by believers does not establish their own righteousness. His perfect obedience to every requirement of the law is His perfect character, expressing a perfect character, and it is offered to believers as their covering. When people submit to Him their hearts, wills, and minds are united with His so that they live His life, and being clothed with His righteousness means being covered by His perfect obedience to God's law. That perfect obedience makes it possible for people to obey God's commandments.
The verse describes true conversion, when by the miracle-working power of Christ's grace the law is written in the heart and the whole character and the whole man are changed. The converted soul is eagerly ready for God to do this work, self is no longer exalted, and the sanctified judgment sees that the spirit cherished in the past could never be admitted into the inner court of God's sanctuary. The soul is then strongly drawn to choose what enlightened judgment has been taught to approve, finding joy in doing God's will. Delighting to do God's will and commandments is the fruit and proof of forgiveness and true conversion. Mere profession of faith does not prove a saving connection with Christ, which is proved by conformity to God's will in words, conduct, and character, with each person doing his own duties and working God's will while leaning on Jesus Christ alone for support and strength and not depending on another to do the work.
When the will is surrendered to God His freely given love is received and the heart delights to obey. When Christ dwells within, God's will and law are within the heart, and obedience becomes a joy born of love for God rather than a burdensome legality. Good works do not earn God's love but reveal its presence. Love for God is expressed in delighting to do His will, His law is not a burden to the one who loves Him but is welcomed inwardly, and His Word speaks to the heart as a Father's voice to His child. Obedience is not choosing which commandments to keep but respecting all His commandments. The commandments express love to God and love to others, so love for Christ cannot be separated from love for fellow believers, and this obedience is the active fruit of love as the will is surrendered to God with God's law held in the heart and doing His will a delight.
Delight Lived Out Daily
The verse sets the standard placed before each person to lay aside personal will and say sincerely from the heart that delight is to do God's will with His law inside the heart. That delight comes from the heart where the law is written, and it means examining one's own course of action and conduct. It means asking God daily what His will is for oneself instead of attempting to give a reason why calamity was permitted to come. Bringing self into unity with Jesus Christ in that same obedience is how matters are understood aright. That unity gives a thorough understanding of the foundation rock on which all can stand in unity, while the dead carcasses of the past are buried so enemies have nothing to triumph over.
Christian perfection is complete harmony of the human will with the will of the Creator. It shuns with abhorrence even the smallest sin and chooses to suffer inconvenience, loss, or privation rather than disregard the instructions of the Lord, instead of pleasing self. Obeying the will of God brings joy and blessedness as it does to the inhabitants of heaven. That obedience is shown by strict regard for His law and honoring God, including reverent keeping of the Sabbath. Learning to love God's will makes doing it comparatively easy.
Delight means constantly standing before the Lord in obedience and showing that delight in His will in both word and action. It means using the varied talents God gives for the saving of souls, acting as God's helping hand for the human race. It refuses selfish use of what is entrusted for the divine enterprise of mercy, using entrusted gifts and goods unselfishly in His service. God works in people to will and do what pleases Him, and His people take the Lord's suggestions and work upon them for the blessing of those around and for the blessing and salvation of others. It means delighting to do God's will by speaking God's words with His authority and then leaving the result with Him when duty is done.
That faithful speaking brings daily peace and comfort and love in the Lord and thankfulness for strength to speak with freedom. It goes with having respect to all His commandments so there is no shame, refusing to enter controversy when words are misinterpreted to serve selfish purposes, and refusing to speak one's own words lest the testimony be weakened. It continues to speak faithfully whether people will hear or will refuse to hear, and uses mild words rather than passionate ones. As He fulfilled the Father's will because He was sent, serving as God's messenger of peace and reconciliation and turning people from iniquity, so His followers are likewise to serve Christ by doing God's will. They cooperate with God in the salvation of their own souls through obedience and work as His messengers, and obedience strengthens their confidence and trust in God.
God's people set aside their own will to seek and do God's will, with God's law written in their hearts and lives. Their obedience is a living testimony to the world, even in a time when evil is widespread. His self-denial was fulfilled when He laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity, came as a babe, and for thirty years lived as a man among men. He lived the life of a poor man though He was the Prince of heaven, and His willing choice to lay aside heavenly glory and accept poverty and humiliation was part of that willing obedience planned with the Father and not accidental. That self-denial is the pattern for ministers and medical missionaries to show no outward display in preaching the gospel and in spending means. His example teaches that poverty is no disgrace and that the poor must not be treated with contempt.
The verse is the voice of Christ in heaven pledging to leave the heavenly courts and come to earth in a prepared human body to do the Father's will as written of Him in the book. To delight to do God's will is to obey willingly, freely, lovingly and joyfully from inward agreement with His law, with that law held within the heart as the controlling power of life. In this He magnified the law and made it honorable instead of destroying or abolishing it, proving it holy and unchangeable so that His death was necessary to save man from its penalty. His complete and lifelong obedience is the example and standard for humanity, answering Satan's claim that the law cannot be kept and showing that through grace freely given men can overcome as He overcame. Under the new covenant the Holy Spirit writes that same law in believers' hearts, so the renewed soul delights to do God's will as Christ did, while the righteousness needed for acceptance is obtained through His imputed righteousness and atoning blood.
Heavenly Voice to Come
The words are the voice of Christ heard in heaven declaring His purpose to leave the heavenly courts and come to a world seared and marred with the curse. They belong to the plan of redemption devised with the Father before the world was made, and His coming was by design and not by chance. Before His earthly life He accepted that plan to come as a human being and do the Father's will, with God's law within His heart. His delight to do God's will and keep God's law within His heart is willing obedience presented as inward and as the example for followers.
In that heavenly declaration He announces His willingness to take the body prepared for Him in place of sacrifice and offering. Hebrews 10:5-9 applies these words to His coming in a prepared human body, identifying Him as the promised Light who visits the guilty world. When sacrifice and offering were not wanted a body was prepared for Him, and on that obedience He left heaven, clothed His divinity with humanity, and came to this world to live a life of obedience in behalf of the sinful race.
He comes as written of Him in the volume of the book, to fulfill what was written beforehand about Him in His life and saving work. The announcement was heard from the throne of God with strange and mysterious import nearly two thousand years ago. Bringing self into unity with Him in that same obedience gives a thorough understanding of the foundation rock on which all can stand in unity while the dead carcasses of the past are buried so enemies have nothing to triumph over.
The declaration was fulfilled when He laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, clothed His divinity with humanity, came as a babe, and for thirty years lived as a man among men. He left His position of dignity and came to this earth as a man to exemplify what humanity must do and be in order to overcome the enemy and to sit with the Father upon His throne. He lived the life of a poor man though He was the Prince of heaven, and God's will was inwardly held and perfectly followed in His incarnation and life of obedience.
Before taking human nature He knew the suffering and insults that lay ahead on the path from the manger to Calvary, yet He embraced that path to save the lost. He knowingly accepted the suffering and hardship ahead because He delighted to do God's will, with inward agreement with God's law and willing obedience to it. His earthly life was planned with the Father, not accidental, and His choice to lay aside heavenly glory and accept poverty and humiliation was part of that willing obedience.
His pledged word to come to do God's will is fulfilled in His death on the cross. In dying He meets the type of all the sacrificial offerings, bringing an end to all sacrifices and offerings as the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. By that obedient doing of the will of God the way into the Holiest of all is laid open as a new and living way with no veil between, so sinful humanity no longer needs to wait for an earthly high priest.
After humanity fell He announced His purpose to become its substitute and surety. Though one with God, He made Himself of no reputation and took human nature, finding joy in obeying God, and that willing obedience made His sacrifice perfect in every part so He could make atonement for sin. He joyfully and voluntarily consented to take human form and chose to suffer and die to atone for sin and redeem humanity.
He came as Captain of salvation to bring men a knowledge of God and heaven. Having clothed His divinity with humanity He took the field Himself to teach men to fight the battles of the Lord against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. He entered the conflict against evil in human nature and chose to do God's will, and in His humanity He served as God's messenger of peace and reconciliation turning people from iniquity. His coming was driven by love for the human race, whose measure is Calvary, and whose significance and heavenly origin are still only half comprehended because earthly cares hide them from view.
Willing Inward Obedience
Delight to do God's will means willing, free, loving, joyful and cheerful service because it is right, with inward agreement with God's law and not reluctant duty. No sacrifice or toil is counted too great to complete the work when the law is within the heart. The joy of willing obedience belongs to one who submits with undivided affection, making it the aim to please God and to learn and follow His will in all things.
The law within the heart means God's will is inwardly held and perfectly followed, becoming the controlling power of life. Words and actions then fulfill what God requires, being all that God requires, as the outflow of God's love to humanity. Delight in God's will with the law in the heart is the constant language of the heart.
The principle binding to service is love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity, and love for God leads to delight in His will. Obedience is the expression of that love. This law of love, revealed in Eden, proclaimed at Sinai, and written in the heart in the new covenant, binds the worker to God's will and service.
Delighting to do God's will means living as head of humanity a perfect, consistent life in conformity with the Father's will. Not My human will but Thy will be done is uppermost in mind and heart as the infallible principle actuating all words and works, molding character, and conforming the will to the Father's will as all should do. That obedience was complete and lifelong, perfect to every requirement of the law, expressing a perfect character. The same enlarged heart that delights in God's will runs in the way of His commandments, as seen in David.
Law Magnified Not Abolished
The verse is the voice of Christ concerning himself and shows His regard for His Father's law, delighting to do God's will with God's law within His heart. In that delight He magnified the law and made it honorable instead of destroying, changing, or abolishing it. His delight proves the law holy and immutable, so His death to save man from the penalty of sin was necessary because the law could not be set aside. His words show the law was not abolished by His death, for He honored it as an abiding expression of God's will.
He declares that God does not desire sacrifice and offerings as substitutes for obedience, but comes to do God's will with God's law in His heart. He came not to abolish the law given at Sinai but to uphold its enduring authority. He revealed it in its original dignity and purity. Because the law could not be changed to accommodate fallen humanity, He took human nature and bore the sins of the fallen race.
God's law was the controlling power in His life, and delight in God's will with the law in His heart was the constant language of His heart. His words and actions fulfilled what God required, and were the outflow of God's love to humanity, so that in word and action He was all that God required Him to be. Before heaven, fallen angels, and those He came to save, He lived the law by supreme obedience to its requirements, exalting and enforcing it. By His purity, goodness, beneficence, devotion, zeal for God's glory, and unsurpassed love for others He made known its perfection, illustrated its excellence, and displayed the law in all its sacred dignity. He thereby impressed hearts with the force of its binding claims, corrected the burdensome unspiritual misinterpretation that robbed it of spirituality, and showed in His Sermon on the Mount that it is spiritual and reaches every phase of life. The great atoning sacrifice upholds the law, while the cross stands as the center of the world and the condemnation of every transgressor of that law.
Example Proving Obedience Possible
Christ's delight to do God's will with the law in His heart is willing, loving, free obedience, accepting no toil or sacrifice as too great, and that obedience is the example, pattern and standard God requires of human beings, showing what humanity must do and be to overcome. His earthly life was shaped in every detail to match God's ideal as the true temple for God's indwelling, presenting obedience as inward and willing for His followers to copy. Under the new covenant the same law is written in believers' hearts by the Holy Spirit, so their renewed lives bear fruits of obedience through Christ's grace by following His example, while their obedience does not establish their own righteousness.
Though Himself without spot or stain of sin He took the nature of man and bore the shameful infirmities of fallen humanity, exposing Himself to the fiercest assaults of the enemy, the sharpest temptations and the keenest sorrow. He faced temptation as a human being and suffered being tempted, made like unto His brethren, and overcame through strength freely offered by God, using no power unavailable to us. In this He showed that through given grace humanity can overcome the temptations of the enemy and even his fiercest assaults. All who stand in Christ and draw near to God may therefore glorify Him, having abundant evidence that the Saviour will be with them in their struggle against sin.
His obedience answers Satan's claim that God's law cannot be kept and shows that perfect obedience is required, while the righteousness needed to meet that requirement is obtained through His imputed righteousness. His earthly life was planned with the Father and not accidental, willingly coming to do God's will with God's law in His heart. His choice to lay aside heavenly glory and accept poverty and humiliation belonged to that willing obedience.
Receiving and keeping God's word brings the law within the heart when a person delights to do God's will, leading to obedience and a life shaped by God's will. Those who abide in Him are to walk as He walked, expressing the same fruit of receiving and keeping God's word. Delight in doing God's will goes with having His law written within the heart, and He answered hostile, accusing and unbelieving speech by recalling God's works and thoughts, delighting in His will, and openly declaring His righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, lovingkindness and truth.
Righteousness and Renewed Heart
Under the new covenant the same law that was within Christ's heart is written by the Holy Spirit in the mind and heart of the believer, so that doing God's will becomes delight as it was with Christ. Through the Spirit's work of renewal the life is made new and bears the fruits of obedience through Christ's grace, following His example and pattern. This is the law of love, revealed in Eden, proclaimed at Sinai, and written in the heart in the new covenant, binding God's worker to His will in service. Love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity is the principle that bound Him to that service and that binds His followers to the same.
His life of obedience pleases the Father and is accepted for those who trust in Him. The righteousness needed to meet the requirement of perfect obedience is obtained through His imputed righteousness, His righteousness is accepted for believers, and His blood atones for their sins. Obedience rendered by believers does not establish their own righteousness. His perfect obedience to every requirement of the law is His perfect character, expressing a perfect character, and it is offered to believers as their covering. When people submit to Him their hearts, wills, and minds are united with His so that they live His life, and being clothed with His righteousness means being covered by His perfect obedience to God's law. That perfect obedience makes it possible for people to obey God's commandments.
The verse describes true conversion, when by the miracle-working power of Christ's grace the law is written in the heart and the whole character and the whole man are changed. The converted soul is eagerly ready for God to do this work, self is no longer exalted, and the sanctified judgment sees that the spirit cherished in the past could never be admitted into the inner court of God's sanctuary. The soul is then strongly drawn to choose what enlightened judgment has been taught to approve, finding joy in doing God's will. Delighting to do God's will and commandments is the fruit and proof of forgiveness and true conversion. Mere profession of faith does not prove a saving connection with Christ, which is proved by conformity to God's will in words, conduct, and character, with each person doing his own duties and working God's will while leaning on Jesus Christ alone for support and strength and not depending on another to do the work.
When the will is surrendered to God His freely given love is received and the heart delights to obey. When Christ dwells within, God's will and law are within the heart, and obedience becomes a joy born of love for God rather than a burdensome legality. Good works do not earn God's love but reveal its presence. Love for God is expressed in delighting to do His will, His law is not a burden to the one who loves Him but is welcomed inwardly, and His Word speaks to the heart as a Father's voice to His child. Obedience is not choosing which commandments to keep but respecting all His commandments. The commandments express love to God and love to others, so love for Christ cannot be separated from love for fellow believers, and this obedience is the active fruit of love as the will is surrendered to God with God's law held in the heart and doing His will a delight.
Delight Lived Out Daily
The verse sets the standard placed before each person to lay aside personal will and say sincerely from the heart that delight is to do God's will with His law inside the heart. That delight comes from the heart where the law is written, and it means examining one's own course of action and conduct. It means asking God daily what His will is for oneself instead of attempting to give a reason why calamity was permitted to come. Bringing self into unity with Jesus Christ in that same obedience is how matters are understood aright. That unity gives a thorough understanding of the foundation rock on which all can stand in unity, while the dead carcasses of the past are buried so enemies have nothing to triumph over.
Christian perfection is complete harmony of the human will with the will of the Creator. It shuns with abhorrence even the smallest sin and chooses to suffer inconvenience, loss, or privation rather than disregard the instructions of the Lord, instead of pleasing self. Obeying the will of God brings joy and blessedness as it does to the inhabitants of heaven. That obedience is shown by strict regard for His law and honoring God, including reverent keeping of the Sabbath. Learning to love God's will makes doing it comparatively easy.
Delight means constantly standing before the Lord in obedience and showing that delight in His will in both word and action. It means using the varied talents God gives for the saving of souls, acting as God's helping hand for the human race. It refuses selfish use of what is entrusted for the divine enterprise of mercy, using entrusted gifts and goods unselfishly in His service. God works in people to will and do what pleases Him, and His people take the Lord's suggestions and work upon them for the blessing of those around and for the blessing and salvation of others. It means delighting to do God's will by speaking God's words with His authority and then leaving the result with Him when duty is done.
That faithful speaking brings daily peace and comfort and love in the Lord and thankfulness for strength to speak with freedom. It goes with having respect to all His commandments so there is no shame, refusing to enter controversy when words are misinterpreted to serve selfish purposes, and refusing to speak one's own words lest the testimony be weakened. It continues to speak faithfully whether people will hear or will refuse to hear, and uses mild words rather than passionate ones. As He fulfilled the Father's will because He was sent, serving as God's messenger of peace and reconciliation and turning people from iniquity, so His followers are likewise to serve Christ by doing God's will. They cooperate with God in the salvation of their own souls through obedience and work as His messengers, and obedience strengthens their confidence and trust in God.
God's people set aside their own will to seek and do God's will, with God's law written in their hearts and lives. Their obedience is a living testimony to the world, even in a time when evil is widespread. His self-denial was fulfilled when He laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity, came as a babe, and for thirty years lived as a man among men. He lived the life of a poor man though He was the Prince of heaven, and His willing choice to lay aside heavenly glory and accept poverty and humiliation was part of that willing obedience planned with the Father and not accidental. That self-denial is the pattern for ministers and medical missionaries to show no outward display in preaching the gospel and in spending means. His example teaches that poverty is no disgrace and that the poor must not be treated with contempt.