For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;

he adorns the humble with salvation. (Psalm 149:4 CSB)

Have you trusted Jesus alone for salvation from your sins? Have you responded to his call to come and find rest for your soul (Matt. 11:28-30)? Are you one of the Lord’s people? The psalmist tells us the Lord takes pleasure in his people. Is that amazing or what? As I read this the other evening I was struck afresh with wonder. I certainly needed to hear that. It reminded me of a time about six or seven years ago when I was reading Sinclair Ferguson’s book The Whole Christ for the first time. I wept in my study in Selma as I pondered the fact that Jesus loves me. Yes, like many of us I have sung “Jesus Loves Me” since I was a child. But I suppose I usually sing it as if the “me” is just one straw of hay in an earth-sized haystack. But in reality we are each the proverbial needle in that haystack that he finds! (See Gen. 3:8-9; Luke 15:1-7; John 6:39-40; 15:16-18.) And even now Jesus has gone to prepare a place for his people that where he is we may be also (John 14:3). Look, I know that people is plural and so Psalm 149 is talking about what we now know as the Body of Christ, the church. But I am a member of that body. And he loves each member even as he loves the whole (Ephesians makes this clear). So… the Lord taking pleasure in me. What a thought! Dear Lord, thank you for your love for sinners like me. Please help me to approach your throne of grace with boldness (Hebrews 4) and to abide in you (John 15). To God be the glory! In Jesus’ name, Amen.