Delighting in God
by Stephanie Rouselle
There are lives that look full from a distance yet feel hollow when inhabited from within. The calendar hums, the inbox fills, the prayers are said, the dishes washed, the meetings attended, the children tucked in, the church songs sung, … and still the soul walks through its own house like a guest who never quite sits down.
But imagine another way to live.
Imagine delight in God no longer treated as an elective for unusually spiritual people, but as the warm center around which everything else turns. A form of transfiguration of our ordinary life. The same kitchen table, but now bread becomes mercy. The same sunrise through the same tired blinds, but now it arrives like a personal kindness. The same suffering, even, but no longer sealed and airless. Grief with a window cracked open toward God.
Imagine delight in God no longer treated as an elective for unusually spiritual people, but as the warm center around which everything else turns.
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Do we treat Psalm 37:4 as our daily reality, or as a whimsical, remote suggestion?
Delight. It’s one of those rare words that exudes more depth and deliciousness in French than in English. As a native French speaker, I love the French word for delight: délice. It’ll remind you of another English word: delicious. In French, we have only one word for the two English words “delight” and “deliciousness”: délice. In French, Psalm 37:4 speaks of delicious delight when it calls us to delight in the Lord. The poetic beauty is inescapable: in French, God is both delightful and delicious.
So, when Psalm 34:8 beckons us to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” we’re invited to discover that the goodness of the Lord is, indeed, delicious. So, what does delight in God taste like? I wonder if, when we aim to make God our delight, we also aim to taste his deliciousness, spiritually speaking. The presence of God is flavorful. The love of God is intoxicating. The glory of God is enthralling.
The Puritans used to speak of “the expulsive power of a new affection.” They understood that sin is not merely defeated by willpower, but displaced by a greater love. The heart cannot be lectured out of its hunger. It must taste something better.
We still work, but not as a starving person clawing for identity. We repent more quickly because our worth is no longer hanging by the thread of our performance. We notice beauty again. We become less hurried, though perhaps no less busy. Silence stops frightening us. Prayer ceases to feel like sending letters into an empty sky and begins to resemble returning home after exile.
And perhaps that is what changes most: underneath the visible things, like our street address, our personality or our struggles, there is something new. A new anchor.
God no longer merely occupies our thoughts from time to time; He becomes the secret sweetness beneath them. The fountain under the floorboards. The fire in the hearth after midnight. The gladness that remains when lesser joys flicker.
Not a life untouched by sorrow. But a life delighted by His Presence.
About Stephanie
Stephanie Rousselle is the author of Awaken Delight: satisfying your soul’s longing for God (IVP, 2026). You can also find her on her top-ranking Gospel Spice Podcast, where she humbly seeks to inspire our generation to delight in God. Born and raised in France, Stephanie is a former atheist whose life motto is now “God’s glory, our delight.” Having lived in four different countries on three continents, she currently resides with her family in Pennsylvania. More at gospelspice.com
INVITATION: FIVE DAYS TO AWAKEN YOUR DELIGHT IN GOD, a free devotional
It would be Stephanie’s great delight to send you a gift: a 5-day email devotional to encourage you to awaken your delight in God.
Daily reflections will slow you down, reframe your attention, and reawaken your desire for God.
Each day is crafted to be short enough to breathe, yet deep enough to disturb the numbness we often accept as normal. Along the way, you’ll be invited to pause, notice small mercies, and return to the simple, astonishing reality that God Himself is your lasting joy and deepest satisfaction in Christ.
If you’re ready to step into that kind of rediscovery, sign up and receive the first reflection immediately.
Details and sign up here for free: Gospelspice.com/lorianwood.