Delight requires dedication. It requires discipline. Tuning out the world to center our attention on the God of the universe seems like it should be easy, but experience proves otherwise. Therefore, we must heed the words of the apostle Paul who said, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7b NASB). Consistent, diligent meditation on the Word of God will bring us the delights of a blessed life.

Every morning is an opportunity for us to experience the blessed life Christ has laid out for us. Each day, our delight can be filled to the brim, not through the mudpies of this world but with a five-course meal laid out by the Creator of the universe. We get more than the shallow promises of the prosperity gospel with its misleading claims of the power of positive thinking wrapped in Christian jargon. We receive far more than the negative buffet of depressing clickbait offered by digital and social media. In Christ, our spiritual thirst is quenched with Living Water (John 7:38). In him, our spiritual hunger is satisfied by the Bread of Life (John 6:35).
This delightful, blessed living is costly but won’t break the bank. You don’t need to make a down payment or monthly installment plan to start experiencing it today. All you need is the Word of God, a readied heart, and a willingness to use your mind for the glory of God. Psalm 1 introduces us to a blessed man who doesn’t live his life according to worldly ways. Instead, “his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:1–2).
True blessedness isn’t found in the treasures of this world. They’ll either vanish shortly after we grasp them, or we’ll lose our grip on them when we close our eyes and enter eternity. True pleasure comes not from minding earthly cares or mindlessly binging on the delicacies of our digital Babylon. Rather than the bread of anxious toil, our souls crave the bread of life (Ps. 127:2). We eat from the King’s table, laid out from end to end with fresh-baked bread, cold-pressed olive oil, flawlessly roasted asparagus tips, and melt-in-your-mouth lamb seasoned with the freshest rosemary, thyme, and oregano. But we must ignore the smell of the ultra-processed, chemical-laden McDonald’s on our way to the palace.
Why Do We Choose Displeasure Over Delight?
Why would anybody choose a lifetime of table scraps, TV dinners, and the occasional bag of Taco Bell over gourmet cuisine at no cost? Some palates are more attuned to inexpensive or lower-quality foods, even if finer foods are offered. I grew up eating barbecue bologna—don’t knock it till you try it!—and I still eat it at my dad’s barbecues to this day. There’s a nostalgic sense of connection to my culture and upbringing. So it is with our souls. Sometimes we choose the latest celebrity gossip or sin-laden movie because that’s what we’ve always enjoyed. Instead of hymns filled with rich gospel truth, we choose shallower types of music that lodge worldly creeds deep in our subconscious.
Another reason is that some of the tastiest and healthiest foods require a mature palate to enjoy them.
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The pain of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, people whom Jesus dearly loved, was real and intense. They had to wait in the dark, wondering why Jesus hadn’t shown up. He cared about their pain, weeping with them as he saw their grief, all the while certain that their grief would turn to joy. Our grief will also turn to joy — on earth, as we see and are satisfied in God, and ultimately in heaven, when we see him face to face. The most loving thing that God can do is to increase our faith in him, to show us his glory, to help us find our satisfaction in him.

Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (John 11:21, 32)
To me, this passage from John 11 is one of the most poignant in all the Gospels. It reflects the heartbreak of sisters who had been sure Jesus would save their brother — women who loved Jesus and sacrificed for him, a family that needed his help and called to him in their distress. Yet Jesus did not respond to his friends’ urgent request. He sent no answer, but simply showed up after their brother was dead.
On the surface, this story is shocking. It doesn’t fit with our definition of love. To us, love rescues and runs. Love doesn’t wait. Love does everything possible to keep the beloved from pain. Yet in understanding how Jesus loved this family, I have seen the depth of his love for me in my own suffering.
Lazarus’s Last Breath
Days before the words above were spoken, Mary and Martha had sent a message to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus, was ill (John 11:3). They likely expected that Jesus would leave immediately to see his dear friend, or perhaps even heal him right there with a word. They knew he was the coming Christ, the Son of God, and that God would give him whatever he asked (John 11:22, 27). They had witnessed Jesus heal countless strangers, responding without delay to their requests for help. Surely he would show up for his friends.
Yet Jesus didn’t respond to their urgent need, choosing to stay where he was for two whole days (John 11:6). He told the disciples that Lazarus’s illness was for the glory of God, that he himself would be glorified through it, and that others would believe because of it (John 11:4, 14–15). At the same time, Jesus knew his intentional delay would bewilder his friends.
I imagine the sisters waiting by the window where Lazarus lay dying, straining to see if Jesus was coming. I picture them reassuring each other that Jesus would surely arrive in time to heal Lazarus. I wonder what each was thinking as Lazarus took his last breath. Were they disappointed and disillusioned with Jesus, even questioning their relationship with him? Did they wonder if Jesus even cared? Did they doubt whether Jesus was the Savior they hoped him to be?
Whatever inner turmoil they were feeling, the sisters had to go on. They needed to bury Lazarus and prepare their home, which would be flooded with people who would come to console them. Some may have asked why Jesus didn’t save Lazarus, perhaps mirroring the question asked later by bystanders: “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37).
Jesus with the Sisters
In the middle of their grieving, Jesus arrived. The sisters independently met him and uttered the same plaintive words: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21, 32). Though they had lost hope of ever seeing their brother again, neither ran from Jesus in their despair, or stayed aloof to protect themselves, or pretended his inaction hadn’t hurt them. Instead, they went to Jesus, directly telling him how they felt.
Jesus responded differently to each sister, knowing what each needed. Martha needed truth; she needed to understand and reaffirm her belief in Jesus as God’s Son. Jesus told her that he was the resurrection and the life, and that whoever believed in him would never die (John 11:25–26).
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The prophet will endure the three days and nights as a man made ready to receive and obey YHWH’s call. Having completed his ordeal and preparation, the sovereign God will ensure that Jonah’s mission resumes.

The Fate of the Reluctant Prophet
It is impossible to imagine the misery Jonah endured for those three days and nights he spent in the belly of a huge fish–both his tomb and his salvation. Jonah’s distress is great–it is that of a dying man. Yet, Jonah is not dying. Beyond all human expectation, YHWH sent a huge fish to rescue the “reluctant prophet” from certain death in a watery grave. Jonah’s entombment in the fish is neither the end nor even the high point of the Jonah story. But it is the literary hinge upon which the story turns from Jonah’s flight from YHWH to the fulfillment of his prophetic mission in Nineveh.
The Prophecy of Jonah opens with YHWH commissioning Jonah to go and preach to the Ninevites, something which Jonah refused to do. Attempting to flee from YHWH’s call, Jonah boarded a ship bound for Tarshish. But YHWH sent a great storm which threatened both Jonah’s ship and its crew. Realizing that it was his sin that was the cause of the storm, Jonah was confronted by the pagan crew–whose own gods were of no help in calming the storm. Unless the storm ceased and soon, all onboard would be dead. Jonah told the crew who he was, what his mission entailed, and that unless the crew threw him overboard, they would not be spared. The frightened crew did exactly that–they threw Jonah into the sea where he was certain to drown.
The moment Jonah was off the ship, YHWH relented, calmed the storm, and delivered the crew, who witnessed YHWH’s great power. The grateful crew offered YHWH sacrifices of thanksgiving. But unbeknownst to them, YHWH miraculously rescued Jonah. At this point, Jonah’s story turns from an account of his flight from Nineveh, to a time of prayer and repentance (chapter 2), which are the preparation for the fulfillment of YHWH’s greater purpose that the gospel be preached in Nineveh (chapter 3), Jonah’s ultimate mission.[1]
As we have seen in prior installments, the Book of Jonah is neither an allegory nor a moralistic fable designed to teach the reader that opposition to the will of God is futile. No doubt, attempting to run from God is one of the most foolish things we can do. But the underlying message of Jonah is not the usual moralizing object lesson–obey God’s call or else suffer the consequences. The Prophecy of Jonah reveals that it is YHWH’s redemptive purpose to save Gentiles who are outside of his covenant with Israel. While dwelling in Canaan (the promised land) YHWH intended his people (Israel) to serve as witnesses of his holiness and righteousness to the neighboring Gentiles nations. Once the unified nation of Israel (as in the days of David and Solomon) was divided by a civil war and the Northern Kingdom became more and more apostate and disobedient to YHWH’s covenant, Israel was no longer a faithful witness, but instead became a sad illustration of happens to those who reject YHWH’s gracious covenant promises and protection in exchange for a helping of pagan porridge.
As Israel failed in its role as YHWH’s witness, covenant judgment came upon the nation as foretold by the prophet Amos and described by Hosea, the last of the prophets YHWH sent to the Northern Kingdom). During the days of Hosea’s ministry (he appears shortly after Amos and Jonah) the Assyrians invaded and conquered Israel, decimating its people. Since Israel failed to be YHWH’s witness to the nations, YHWH calls Jonah to serve as a prophetic witness to the Gentiles–Jonah is to preach in Nineveh, the very heart of the pagan Assyrian empire.
Jonah the Patriot
But Jonah was a Jewish patriot and deeply hated the Assyrians (Israel’s current enemy). Jonah even claims that he would rather die than see the Assyrians converted through his preaching (Jonah 4:3). So, like the nation from which he hailed, at least initially, Jonah also fails in his role as YHWH’s witness to the neighboring Gentiles. He refuses to obey YHWH’s prophetic call and attempts to flee to Tarshish only to discover that you cannot escape from YHWH. YHWH’s word will be preached in Nineveh, by Jonah, and to great effect just as YHWH decreed.
Jonah’s reaction to his miraculous deliverance from certain death is revealed in the second chapter of his prophecy. Somehow surviving in the belly of a large fish appointed by YHWH to save him, once inside the fish Jonah might have thought it would have been far better had YHWH simply let him die. It is hard to think of a more uncomfortable and miserable environment. In this “song of deliverance” (Jonah 2:1-10) also known as “Jonah’s prayer,” we learn of Jonah’s change of heart which leads him to go to Nineveh and preach in fulfillment of his divine call. Jonah shows himself to be quite familiar with the Psalter as his words and expressions frequently echo well known passages from the Psalms. In this, Jonah models how Christians ought to face pain and suffering–clinging to God’s words and promises. We also see Jonah’s expression of thanksgiving unto YHWH for delivering him from certain death, as well as an indication that now confined in the most difficult of conditions, Jonah will become a student of YHWH’s ways, and of YHWH’s mercy.[2]
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