Enjoy…
by Lisa Allgood, Executive Presbyter
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. – Psalm 37:4
Have you ever been caught short by a word you use all the time, and find yourself hearing it so differently that it makes you stop and ponder for a moment?
I help conduct a new members class at Covenant-First – it was a new approach we started more than 8 years ago and we just keep on going with it. One of the things we talk about in the class is the Book of Confessions – its role comparable to Scripture and how it reflects the history of belief in our Reformed tradition, according to the historical context in which each one was written.
Between those who help teach it, both teaching and ruling elders, we all have our favorite part. Mine comes from the Heidelberg Catechism:
What is your only comfort in life and in death?
That I am not my own, but belong— body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
One of the other elders with whom I teach always references the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
What is the chief end of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
I’ve heard and read that phrase many many times, but – the last time we taught I started to wonder, as good nerds do – “enjoy” God…? Gratitude always; enjoy His creation on beautiful days (and on my endless travels), enjoy the people He’s put in your life, but – “enjoy” God?
I am chuckling as I remember Teresa of Avila’s response to God one day, scolding Him – “no wonder You don’t have any friends, the way You treat people!”
So – “enjoy” God?
Which left me wondering, what is the etymology of the word “enjoy”? I took French from 3rd grade through college, so I knew it had Latin/French origins, but… hmmm, interesting use of a common word in an uncommon setting.
So guess what I did? Yup – I looked it up. And boy can I go down rabbit holes.
I started with “joy”. “Joie” en français.
Joy (noun): circa 1200, “feeling of pleasure and delight;” circa 1300, “source of pleasure or happiness,” from Old French joie “pleasure, delight, bliss, joyfulness”; from Latin gaudia “expressions of pleasure; delight,” plural of gaudium “joy, inward joy, gladness, delight; source of pleasure or delight,” from gaudere “rejoice,” from PIE root *gau- “to rejoice”.
Joy (verb): mid-13th century, joien, “feel gladness or pleasure, be happy;” also (circa 1300) “fill (someone) with joy, gladden, delight;” also “have the use of;” from Old French jöir, verb from joie “pleasure, delight”. By mid-14th century as “express joy, rejoice openly, exult;” from circa 1400 as “glory, boast, brag.” It is attested by mid-15th century as “enjoy (something), take pleasure in.”
Then I went to enjoy (verb): late 14c., enjoien, “rejoice, be glad” (intransitive), from stem of Old French enjoir “give joy, rejoice, take delight in,” from en- “make” + joir.
Interestingly, the word “enjoy” has become commonplace. Perhaps it always was even in the 12th century. Now Starbucks baristas write it on the cup containing your order. The ice-cream dippers at Graeters always cheerfully say “enjoy!” when they hand the cone to you. But its common-ness means that as a truly distinctive word it tends to lose the intensity of a connection to pleasure: media photo captions say someone enjoys an ice cream cone or a hamburger, when all the person is doing is eating it. Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary (1900) reports widespread use in England of the phrase to “enjoy bad health” for one who has ailments.
So – “enjoy” God?
“Make joy for God” is one way of back-translating the phrase (literally “make” from the French “en”), and that is a wonderful way to give Him glory: make joy in His name.
But I actually like “delight in God forever” better, and I’m going to believe – pretend – that’s the real intention behind an otherwise archaic phrase. Because I do believe (no pretending) that delighting in Him, in His Word, in His creation, in the very life He gives to us, is one beautiful way to worship Him, and what better way to attract others to His love than by delightfully holding up the Lord as our King?
