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“I delight to do thy will, O my God.” Psalm 40:8 We know that these words are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ because the Spirit of God has told us so (Hebrews 10:7-9). They find their ultimate, perfect fulfillment in the Person and work of Christ. How we rejoice to know that Christ, the Godman, our Substitute, has fulfilled all the will of God for us! By his obedience to God in our stead the Lord Jesus obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12). His obedience to God is our righteousness. His blood is our atonement for sin (Romans 5:19; Ephesians 1:7). We are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). And we are accepted in him because he delighted to do the will of God as our Substitute.             However, these are also the words of David, a sinner saved by the grace of God. They express the desire, ambition, and driving force of every believer’s heart. All who are born of God bear this distinct mark of grace in the likeness of Christ. From our hearts we cry, “I delight to do thy will, O my God.” Nothing is more important. Our joy and happiness is not merely in receiving good from God, but in rendering active service to our God. We desire to obey and serve our heavenly Father in all things and to do his will at all times, not reluctantly, or of necessity, but cheerfully. God’s will is our joy and delight. And we rejoice to see God’s will done by others. Our hearts’ prayer is, “Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). God the Holy Ghost teaches every believer in the world to pray with Christ, “Thy will be done.” The more we grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ the more we are consumed by this holy ambition. Were it possible to gather all the desires, ambitions, aspirations, goals, and prayers of all God’s saints in heaven and in earth into one expression, it would be “Thy will be done.” Every believer delights to do the will of God.             When the believing heart cries, “I delight to do thy will, O my God,” the meaning of his prayer is, “My heavenly Father, my God, my dear Savior, in my heart of hearts, from the depth of my inmost soul, I delight to fulfill your will of purpose. I delight to satisfy your will of pleasure. I delight to obey your will of precept. And I delight to submit to your will of providence.” We rejoice in the fact that our heavenly Father is God who “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” We wouldn’t have anything any other way than it is. Whatever is, my brother my sister, “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Don Fortner

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