Rejoicing in the Thou

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Another bite from the dessert of my day. Chew very, very slowly to taste the sweet and the bitter in these oh so wise words.

This is ... the difference between the joy of the hypocrite,

and the joy of the true saint.

The [hypocrite] rejoices in himself;

self is the first foundation of his joy:

the [true saint] rejoices in God....

True saints have their minds, in the first place,

inexpressibly pleased and delighted

with the sweet ideas of the glorious and amiable [friendly, pleasant] nature

of the things of God.

And this is the spring of all their delights,

and the cream of all their pleasures. ...

But the dependence of the affections of hypocrites is in a contrary order:

they first rejoice ... that they are made so much of by God;

and then on that ground,

he seems

in a sort [in some sort of way],

lovely to them.

~ Jonathan Edwards, quoted in A God-Entranced View of All Things; The LIfe and Legacy of Jonathan Edwards

The first thing I thought of was how many of us Christians worship. Yes, God is personal and pours His blessings of comfort and joy and help and so on.

But do we ever worship Him merely for His greatness? Who He IS?

Is that where our thoughts start, when they wander on their own? His excellencies?

Is that where we take our thoughts when we are troubled? His supremacy? Or merely, our need?

Let's reintroduce these words in our daily vocabulary:

Thou, Thee, Thine

and stay there, linger there, dwell there... first and foremost.

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