What is the difference between desiring and delighting in God?

^“Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever”; Psa: 73: 25-26. Asaph, the God entranced Psalmist has a great desire for God, and this desire is so strong and that makes all other things nothing. King David expresses his desire for God with the image of a deer panting for water; As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God; Psa:42:1.Apostle Paul in his letter to Philippians expresses his desire for God in the following way; “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. . . . Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 1:23; 3:7-8).

Delighting in God or rejoicing in God is found in Psalms and other books both in the Old Testament and New Testament.  Habakkuk delights in the Lord, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation;” Hab: 3:17-18.

So we have both the desire and the delight; desiring, yearning, craving, longing, and the joy is the delight, pleasure happiness or satisfaction. There is always more in God to enjoy, because God is infinite, perfect in holiness. God is more glorified when we find satisfaction in Him alone. Love for God and faith goes together to find joy in God and faith in Jesus involves delighting in Him. Once we begin to delight in Jesus, a believing heart cannot forsake Christ for the broken cisterns of the world. In our Western Churches the last two hundred years there was incredible devaluation of the fight for joy because the truth of the Gospel is little understood. Christian life was understood as an earnest warfare from beginning to end, and the fruit bearing fields of joy in God was defended and strengthened throughout. Paul’s ministry was working for the joy of Christ for people, and maintaining joy needs work, because one had to fight against every impulse for alien joy which is apart from Christ. In Phil: 1:25, he says that he is wrestling with two competing desires: one to be with Christ, and the other to stay and minister to the churches.

References:

1. The Matthew Henry Study Bible, King James version: The best of Matthew Henry’s Notes in a Handy One Volume Reference Bible (Iowa Falls, U.S. A, World Bible Publishers, Inc; 1994). 

2. John Piper, When I don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Publisher, 2004).