A New Kind of Discipline Pt. 6: Delight

Most spiritual disciplines are often framed as practices of sacrifice and discipline. We expect them to take effort, even cost us something. But delight?

That sounds like dessert, not discipline. And yet, Scripture invites us to see delight not as a byproduct of faith but as a practice of faith.

“Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”—Psalm 37:4

Notice the order. Delight comes first, not as the fulfillment of desire. Delight is not the reward; it is the way.

Why Delight Matters in Spiritual Formation

Delight is not denial of pain. It’s not plastering a smile over sorrow or pretending everything is fine. It is the deep, attentive joy that emerges when we notice God’s goodness in the midst of our reality…whether that reality is bright or bleak.

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Delight is incomplete until it is expressed.” 

He understood that joy has a way of completing itself when it is shared, and in the life of faith, that sharing often takes the form of worship and gratitude.

The Psalms show us this:

“You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”—Psalm 16:11

“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”—Zephaniah 3:17

Without delight, faith can shrink into mere endurance or surviving but not thriving. We can become like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:25–32), obedient yet joyless, keeping the rules but missing the celebration of the Father’s heart.

Delight keeps us from becoming cynical disciples who know the commands of God but have forgotten the heart of God. Nehemiah reminded a weary, rebuilding people, “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

That joy is not a fleeting mood, but an inner buoyancy rooted in the unchanging character of God.

Dallas Willard once observed, “Joy is not pleasure, a mere sensation, but a pervasive and constant sense of well-being that flows from confidence in God’s goodness and sovereignty.” In other words, delight is a discipline because it requires intentionality, attention, and sometimes even courage.

Practicing delight is countercultural in a world that measures worth by productivity and significance by achievement. It is the intentional decision to pause, notice, and savor what God is doing here and now. When we train our hearts this way, we begin to see that delight is the fuel for perseverance, a ballast for the soul, and a witness to the watching world.

The Biblical Pattern of Delight

From the very beginning, God set the pace for His people by modeling delight. Before the law was given, before Israel’s worship was formed, before sin entered the world, God revealed His posture toward creation: joyful, satisfied, and fully present.

Creation – Delight at the Beginning

“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”—Genesis 1:31

The very first chapter of Scripture ends not with God calculating what needs to be fixed, but with Him pausing to enjoy what He made. The Hebrew phrase for “very good” carries a sense of abundance and completeness. Creation was good in every way, overflowing with beauty and purpose. Delight is literally built into the DNA of the world.

C.S. Lewis once noted, “Joy is the serious business of Heaven.” The creation account shows us that joy is also the serious business of earth because it was God’s first recorded response to His handiwork.

Sabbath – Delight Institutionalized

“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”—Genesis 2:3

Sabbath is not simply about recovery from exhaustion; it’s about taking time to savor the goodness of what God has done. In Jewish tradition, Sabbath was (and still is) marked by feasting, laughter, storytelling, and music. It’s a day of holy delight; work stops, but celebration begins.

Abraham Joshua Heschel described Sabbath as “a cathedral in time”… a sacred space where God’s people could step into the joy He felt at creation. This rhythm trains our souls to resist the tyranny of endless productivity and remember that the world is held together not by our striving, but by His sustaining joy.

The Psalms – Delight in Every Season

The psalmists picked up this thread and wove it into the daily life of God’s people:

“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.”

—Psalm 34:8

“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it.”

—Psalm 96:11

“You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.”

—Psalm 4:7

For David and others, delight was not confined to moments of ease. Many psalms of joy were written in times of exile, danger, or uncertainty. This shows us that delight is anchored in the character and presence of God.

Eugene Peterson once wrote, “Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence… Joy is what God gets to do when we live in obedience to Him.” The psalms remind us that this joy is meant to be sung, shouted, and shared.

Putting it together: From creation’s first sunrise to Sabbath’s weekly rhythm to the psalmist’s songs in every season, the Bible shows that delight is not a spiritual afterthought, but foundational to our flourishing. It is God’s way of teaching us that our souls are healthiest when we stop to enjoy Him and the goodness He gives.

Jesus and the Practice of Delight

Even Jesus, whose mission was nothing less than the redemption of the world, modeled delight. He did not live as a joyless ascetic removed from the rhythms of daily life. Instead, He entered into them fully, sharing meals, enjoying friends, and celebrating faith wherever He found it.

The Gospels are filled with moments where Jesus makes space for joy:

• At weddings – His first recorded miracle was turning water into wine at a celebration in Cana (John 2:1–11). This wasn’t an act of necessity; it was an act of generosity and delight, ensuring the joy of the occasion continued.

• At meals – Jesus often chose the table as a place to teach, bless, and build relationship (Luke 5:29–32; Luke 19:1–10). Meals in His culture were slow, communal, and joyful.

• With children – When others tried to shoo children away, Jesus welcomed them, blessed them, and even pointed to their joy-filled trust as the model for the kingdom of God (Mark 10:13–16).

• In worship – Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit (Luke 10:21) when He saw the kingdom breaking into ordinary lives through His disciples’ ministry.

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His joy was not circumstantial. It did not depend on the approval of religious leaders or the absence of hardship. It was relational, rooted in His constant awareness of the Father’s love.

As He told His disciples:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love… I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.”—John 15:9, 11

This joy wasn’t shallow happiness. It was the deep delight of knowing and doing the Father’s will. Even as He faced the cross, Hebrews tells us it was “for the joy set before him” that He endured (Hebrews 12:2). That joy was bound to relationship, redemption, and the unshakable purposes of God.

For us, this means that practicing delight is not escapism. It’s entering into the same kind of joy Jesus knew  tied to the Father’s presence, sustained in community, and expressed in celebration. It’s a discipline because it requires us to slow down, pay attention, and live relationally rather than transactionally.

Jesus modeled delight through sharing meals, enjoying friends, and celebrating faith wherever He finds it. His joy was not circumstantial but relational.

Practicing Delight

Delight will not usually hunt you down; you have to seek it, name it, and hold it. These four practices can help weave it into your discipleship rhythm:

1. Notice Before You Need. Begin your day by naming three things that spark joy in you before your mind starts tallying needs and problems.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”—James 1:17

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The world will never starve for want of wonders, but only for want of wonder.” When we train our eyes to look for gifts before we look for gaps, we start the day from a place of gratitude rather than scarcity.

Application: Keep a running “delight list” in your journal or phone notes—small mercies, unexpected kindnesses, sights and sounds that make you pause.

2. Create Margin for Wonder. Hurry is a delight-killer. Even Jesus, who had the weight of the world’s redemption on His shoulders, stepped away to rest and pray.

“Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”—Mark 6:31

Henri Nouwen said, “Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life.” Margin gives space for wonder to rise; whether that’s watching the sky change colors, lingering in a conversation, or walking without an agenda.

Application: Block a recurring time in your week for activities that serve no purpose but joy: watch a sunrise, explore a park, cook something just because it smells good.

3. Anchor Delight in the Giver, Not the Gift. Gifts fade; God doesn’t. The discipline of delight directs our joy toward the Giver, which keeps our hearts from being tossed around by circumstances.

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines… yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”—Habakkuk 3:17–18

A.W. Tozer wrote, “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One.” This posture means that even when good gifts are taken away, our joy remains unshaken because its root is deeper than the moment.

Application: When you enjoy something—a meal, a conversation, a song—pause and say out loud, “Thank You, Lord.” Direct your delight upward.

4. Bring Delight Into Prayer. Prayer is not only a place for requests; it’s a space to savor God’s goodness. The Psalms are full of prayers that simply rejoice.

“I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.”—Psalm 9:2

Richard Foster wrote, “Celebration is central to all the spiritual disciplines. Without a joyful spirit of festivity the disciplines become dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees.”

Application: Start your prayers with thanksgiving before you move to needs. Let delight be the doorway into God’s presence.

Delight in the Dark

The discipline of delight becomes most potent when practiced in hardship. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, written from a prison cell, overflows with joy. Nearly every chapter contains the word rejoice, not as a cliché, but as a conviction.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”—Philippians 4:4

Paul’s joy was not naïve optimism. He wasn’t ignoring chains, guards, or trial. His delight was not rooted in his situation but in his Savior. When you anchor delight in the unchanging presence of God, it becomes unshakable.

This doesn’t mean we fake happiness or paste a smile over grief. Scripture never calls us to deny our pain. The discipline of delight in the dark is the permission to notice beauty in the ashes.

Isaiah describes this as God giving “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning” (Isaiah 61:3). It’s not that the ashes disappear. Instead, these ashes  become the soil from which something beautiful grows.

Final Thought:

Delight is not naïve; it is prophetic. It declares that God’s goodness is real and will have the final word, even if the evidence isn’t all in yet.

Reflection Questions:

1. Where have you been most aware of God’s goodness in the last week?

2. What habits or hurry patterns keep you from noticing and enjoying beauty?

3. How could you intentionally build delight into your week—especially in hard seasons?