Learning to Delight in God

So you’ve tried reading your Bible. You pray. You ask God every day to fill you with satisfaction in Him. And still, something feels missing.

“How do I actually become more happy in God?” That’s the honest question one young man asked Pastor John Piper. It’s a question rooted in hunger not for more religious activity, but for more of God Himself. And it's one many Christians quietly carry.

Christian Hedonism teaches us that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. But how do we get there when joy feels fleeting?

The Holy Contagion of Joy

Jesus once said something stunning: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). The joy of the Son of God full, radiant, divine. He wants to share with us.

The apostle Paul echoed the same heartbeat: “My joy would be the joy of you all” (2 Corinthians 2:3). There’s a holy contagion in joy when we hear or see others delight in God, it awakens something in us. Stories of joy in Christ can spark that same flame in our hearts.

Which is exactly why Pastor John turned to the story of Hudson Taylor.

A Joy That Lasted a Lifetime

In 1869, missionary Hudson Taylor experienced a spiritual breakthrough. After years of frustration, weakness, and striving, he read a letter from a friend that included a single sentence about abiding in Christ. That sentence that Christ is sufficient for all opened his eyes.

Taylor later said, “God has made me a new man!”

He described how John 4:14 “Whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never thirst” came alive with fresh power. “We realized that Christ literally meant what He said that ‘shall’ meant shall, and ‘never’ meant never. . . . Our heart overflowed with joy.”

What changed wasn’t what he knew it was how the truth of Christ gripped him.

This joy wasn’t a one-time mountaintop high. It stayed with him for decades. And what transformed him wasn’t more striving it was abiding. Letting Christ be the Vine, and himself the branch. Receiving. Resting. Trusting.

“Abiding, not striving nor struggling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for present power . . . resting in the love of an almighty Savior.” Hudson Taylor

Striving Less, Abiding More

The mystery of Christian joy is this it’s a gift, not a reward. But God gives it through real, everyday means seeing Christ in His Word, obeying Him in faith, and serving others in love.

That’s why Hudson Taylor also wrote “Communion with Christ requires our coming to Him. Meditating on His person and His work requires the diligent use of the means of grace, and specially the prayerful reading of His Word. Many fail to abide because they habitually fast instead of feed.”

So what can we do? We feed. We come to Christ not with clenched fists but open hands. We abide, slowly and steadily. We let His Word do its work, let His Spirit make His joy our own.

What You’re Not Missing

If you feel like you’re missing something, it’s not because joy in God is some hidden secret. It’s that joy doesn’t come by force. It comes by faith. And sometimes, God grants a sudden realization like He did for Hudson Taylor. Other times, He grows joy slowly like fruit on a vine.

Either way, the answer is the same abide. Stay close to Jesus. Listen to stories of His faithfulness. Feed on His Word. Surrender your striving and let Him lead you deeper.

Above all, don’t stop desiring more of Him.

As Pastor John says, “Don’t settle for anything less than being filled with all the fullness of God.” And if you’re hungry for that, that hunger itself is already a gift.

So don’t lose heart. That deep satisfaction in God you long for? It’s real. It’s possible. It’s yours in Christ.

And it’s only the beginning.

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