A Verse
Psalm 147:10-11
His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
the LORD delights in those who fear him
who put their hope in his unfailing love.
A Comment
I must admit that this morning’s passage challenges me. My heart tends to believe that God is more pleased with me when I “perform well” instead of “depend well” on him. Yet, these verses serve as a much-needed reminder that God is pleased when his people trust him. They remind us of what Paul taught in Romans 14:23, “everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
This means that while we are capable of doing all sorts of things “for the LORD,” God’s greatest concern in those things that we do is how we are “fearing him” and “putting our hope in his unfailing love.” He is not pleased with my proud self-sufficiency. He is not pleased with my sense of adequacy. He is pleased when I acknowledge my desperate need for him in everything that thing that I do.
In reflecting on this morning’s passage, I love what C. H. Spurgeon wrote, “God does not take pleasure in us because of our attainments, or potentialities: he respects character rather than capacity.” If I may dare to modify Spurgeon’s thought on this verse, I don’t think that he is saying God takes no pleasure in “our attainments or potentialities” but that God is concerned with the character that we display in such “attainments and potentialities.” He is pleased when the things that we do are marked by fear of and hope in him.
May the LORD work in us an ambition to achieve great things for his glory with even greater hope and fear in him!
A Prayer
Would you pray with me?
A Blessing
Grace and peace be yours in abundance, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
The Pleasure of the LORD