At work we talk a lot about customer delight, rather than satisfaction. The difference is that a satisfied customer got exactly what she expected, while a delighted one is pleased at something more or better. A satisfied customer will come back, but a delighted customer will tell other people.
Delight is closely related to joy, but there are connotations of pleasure and happiness, maybe a little eagerness.
That's why I'm always moved when I read Micah 7:18:
"Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy."
The world, all those people who don't know about God but think they do, have an image of a wrathful judge just looking for an excuse to hang someone. I know from personal experience the God of Micah, the God who pardons and forgives, the God who is always read to forget his anger. The God who delights in showing mercy.
That makes it sound like showing mercy is God's favorite thing, and it very well could be. But to think that judgment makes God sad but mercy delights him is just amazing. It doesn't make a lot of sense when I think of how casually I treat God, but it's the truth.
I think that's why God reveals himself to us as a father. It's easy to imagine a father's delight at giving something good to his son. When I read verses like this, I envision a beaming father eager to see the joy in my face when I realize what's in the gift he just gave me.
What a shame that the world can't see the God who delights in mercy. On the other hand, maybe that's a charge to me. How will they see unless I show them?
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