Pleasing the Lord

You may remember the story, Chariots of Fire, made into a movie in 1981. The young Eric Liddell is racing with his friends in Scotland. After he easily wins, he says, "I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. When I run, I feel His pleasure."

About a month ago I came across a Bible verse that caught my attention so powerfully that I printed it in letters half-an-inch high across the first pages of my journal— FIND OUT WHAT PLEASES THE LORD! Eph. 5:10.

Then I started to dig—what does please the Lord? For starters, I ran a Bible search on those three words and got seven hits, four OT and three NT. Apparently, “it pleased the Lord to bless Israel.” Num.24:1. “It pleased the Lord to make you [Israel] prosper and increase in number.” Deut.28:63. Then it pleases the Lord to “praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving” (more than sacrificing an ox or a bull). Psa.69:31. “It pleased the Lord…to make his law great and glorious.” Isa.42:21.

The New Testament tells us that we all should be “concerned about the Lord’s affairs”—how we can please the Lord. 1 Cor.7:32. And then, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” Col.3:20.

Let’s enlarge on the whole subject of “pleasing the Lord,” by brainstorming a list of things that help:—

       • direct communication with the Lord (prayer and Bible reading—we speak to Him and He speaks to us.)

      • raising our children to know Him.

      • associating with and helping all God’s people.

      • assembling with God’s people to worship Him.

      • spreading the knowledge and the love of the Lord everywhere we can.

      • striving for personal holiness. Arthur Dixon recently commented, “Do you want to be holy? Read 1 Corinthians 13!”

This list is almost overwhelming, and it’s far from complete. Here are three more scriptures: Psalm 104:34 says, “May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord,” and 2 Tim.2:4 says “No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.” Finally, 2 Cor.5:9 says, “We make it our goal to please him.”

Perhaps no one outside of scripture said it better than C.S. Lewis: “That some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”

Summer sunrise, from my balcony