Visions of Rapture

Delight yourself  in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. -Psalm 37:4

Perfect submission, perfect delight....-Fanny J. Crosby



Folding up clothes today and putting them away in boxes.

So many of them that I can see that I will not be able to do this all in a single sitting (or folding, or putting away, or packing up, or whatever the  proper term is).

And in light of all that (or maybe these things are completely unrelated), what is the desire of my heart?

I think it has to do with the word, "delight."

I also think that maybe "delight" is missing from my prayers. Or at least meditations are missing in which I dwell upon what it truly means to be "delighted." And especially to be "delighted in the LORD."  

I desire many things when I pray. I desire the salvation of loved ones, for healing of the sick, to be able to share the Gospel, and many other things which are common, I suppose, to all the prayers of God's saints.

Billy is still preaching through Job in our mid-week worship services. The thing about a good preacher (and I pray you are blessed with one too) is that he studies the Bible to such an extent that he sheds new light, even on familiar passages.

Sometimes this light can have the candle power intensity of a searchlight. Call it an epiphany, if you like. I like to call it an "oh yeah" moment.

You see, Fanny Crosby wasn't really blind in the truest sense of the word. I believe those "visions of rapture" she wrote about were as real, in her sanctified imagination, as this page-full of words is to me.

So what is my desire? To be relieved of pain, of longing, of trial, of temptation?

I have prayed to have these removed from me.

But God says, "My strength is sufficient for you."

My desire, then, must be for God's comforting presence. To strengthen me, to guide me. That I might realize, as Fanny Crosby surely did, the greatness of His love.  

That I might delight in Him.