Sweet Delight

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. A youthful Jonathan Edwards penned it when he began to notice the lovely young woman who would one day be his wife. Every time I read what he says about her I am spurred on to know better the "Almighty Being" as Sarah Edwards did; to love Him so well that "all the world...with the richest of its treasures" would be "but rubbish to me" (Phil 3:8).

"They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of that almighty Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on Him- that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that He loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from Him always. There she is to dwell with Him, and to be ravished with His love and delight forever. Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction.

"She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and singular purity in her affections; is most just and conscientious in all her actions; and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this great Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after those seasons in which this great God has manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimess go about from place to place, singing sweetly; and seems to be always of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have Someone invisible always conversing with her."

~ Jonathan Edwards in In Trouble and In Joy, pgs 102-103, as quoted bySharon James 

Although one might be tempted to attribute Jonathan's effusive description of Sarah to be hyperbole born out of attraction, it is possible to have a relationship of almost unbelievable sweetness with the Lord even at a young age.

If you want an example, just study the life of David for a while. While still a youth, he sought God's glory instead of his own in his battle against Goliath, saying beforehand, "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands...that all the earth may know that there is a God is in Israel" (1 Samuel 17:46,47).

It was David who penned the well-known words from Psalm 42: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?" David said in Psalm 73:25, "Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth."

His words sound pretty radical, but they evidently come from a sincere heart, as God called David a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). I want to be a woman after God's heart, delighting in His presence and seeking after Him earnestly as both King David and Sarah Edwards did

~Lissie