Nearly everyone who accepts there is a ‘god’ wonders how to please it / him / her / them…and normally tries to.
It makes sense that any wise human who understands a more powerful deity exists, would try to please / appease the Being that made them.
We see the same trait in animals – horses with their owners, dogs with their masters, dolphins with their trainers: the animal does what it has learned, i.e. what the the human wants (or rewards).
Even in these limited examples, we can see a large variety of different types of activities the animals will do. Dogs can do everything from running and jumping over hoops, to chasing criminals, sniffing luggage, rounding up sheep, detecting seizures, to simply ‘shaking’ the masters hand.
Amazingly – even without training – a dog will try to gain the affection of a human, nuzzling, leaning on, whimpering, barking at, giving food to, licking the hand etc. The desire get the attention and praise of the master is deep and starts early.
The same is true of humans. In a family, a child will start to yearn for the praise and acknowledgment of it’s parents in a variety of ways. Attention and praise build confidence, enthusiasm and positivity re-enforces the child’s behaviour. Even in a dysfunctional family, a ‘problem’ child will yearn for (and often get) negative attention by doing the wrong things.
Who doesn’t want their parents to say ‘well done’ or be proud of them? To get that from some parents is easier than others, but not the point of this article…
What about God – what does He want? What does it take for God to accept you – to be happy with you?
Your understanding of who God is will change your answer to this question dramatically.
People throughout history have done the strangest things trying to please their ‘god’:
- Devout Muslims – pray 5 times a day, fast and some will even go as far to kill innocent people
- Buddhists – try to never kill anything – even the smallest animal. They may spend weeks or months in isolation, no talking or worse
- Catholics / monks – live a celibate life, live and serve in a monastery, wear camel hair etc
In the BIble we read of many pagan religions – one where the ‘prophets’ is Baal danced and cut themselves in order to try to get this ‘god’ to do something. In another, people would kill (sacrifice) their children – literally letting them be burned to death – in order to try to secure a better financial year.
Imagine serving a ‘god’ who wanted you to torture and murder your children to be happy?
Some of these things sound crazy and far fetched to us – and some are – but to the person who believes that this ‘god’ is real and will be happy – they oblige.
Amazingly, many people believe the God of the Bible, the God of the Christians, wants similar, dreadful things. But nothing could be further from the truth.
What does the One true God want? How do people ‘keep Him happy’?
All through the Bible, we have examples of people who served God – champions (or heroes) of the faith:
people like Abraham, Moses, Sampson, David, Paul. They all who gave up much to work for God and put up with terrible conditions.
There are also countless stories of people throughout history who have accomplished amazing things.
Who hasn’t heard of Corrine Ten Boom? Eric Liddell? My mate Nate Saint? They did incredible things. That lady who went to China and rescued the orphans from war.
What about Martin Luther and William Tyndale? All willing to give up their lives to do what god wanted. There are also many, many missionaries who gave up everything to serve God and love others.
God must have been H A P P Y!
NOPE! None of it earns or earned His ‘pleasure’.
But what does actually make God happy? What pleases Him?
- Not sinning?
- Going to Church?
- Wearing good clothes?
- Keeping your room neat?
- Being obedient to your parents?
- Not sinning?
- Helping others?
These things are often what lie hidden in our thinking about pleasing God and can dominate our decisions and ‘performance’ for God.
Common thoughts:
“I didn’t do this / that [insert sin here] today”
“I haven’t done this / that [insert sin here] for x weeks”
“Look at what I did – I helped that old lady, I gave away my…”
“I spent x amount of time preaching or evangelising or helping set up church”
We think it is good, we think we are good (or righteous), we think we are pleasing God, but :
“We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds,
they are nothing but filthy rags.”
Isaiah 64:6
Our most sincere effort – our best – is nothing but filthy rags to Him.
Our text:
Psalms 147:10-11
He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might.
No, the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him,
those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
More than the ‘righteous deeds’ you try to show, more than the ‘successes’ you have, more than the skills or ‘gifts’ you have been given – God is looking at your heart towards Him.
The heart that fears Him and trusts in His unfailing love…
David – a common example of a man God loved sinned in terrible ways. He stole someone’s wife, tried to hide it, but when he couldn’t, he had her husband killed! He shouldn’t even be in the Bible, yet he is described as someone ‘after God’s own heart’! But David didn’t run when confronted, he didn’t deny or walk from God but admitted and turned to God, who wanted to forgive.
We have Psalm 51 from when Nathan confronts David about this sin – a repentant prayer to a God:
Psalms 51:4
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.
David recognised the true ‘victim’ of his sin (God) – and that this God held him in judgment. The knowledge of the God who can destroy your body and soul in hell and holds His immense wrath against sinners should evoke fear!
Luke 12:5
But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear.
John 3:36
And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”
David also trusted that God would forgive him – not based on the sacrifice of bulls, but based on who God is and His heart towards humans.
Psalms 51:16-17
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Jeremiah is another one who understood the faithfulness of God:
Lamentations 3:22-27
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline:
Again it is a common verse and can sound so cliche – “the faithful love of the Lord never ends”.
But think about what had happened in Jeremiah’s life to lead him to this deep heart felt revelation.
He was depressed and suicidal, rejected by his king and nation, his beloved country over run by foreign pagan king – pain, health issues, no inheritance, no friends – no one wants to go through these things…
But God put Him there. God orchestrated these things – first for the nation but also for him individually.
If you are following God – wherever God leads you, whatever He lets you go through: He wants to use these things to get you to a point where you fear Him and trust His unfailing love.
But trusting God will likely not come natural for most. Our earthly fathers are image bearers of God. This means that the way they act will lead you to the same conclusion(s) about God. For instance, if your father was always too busy working you may believe God is distant and have the belief deep down that you are worthless. These things will severely impact and influence your relationship with God and the automatic reaction you have to life events and situations – pain.
There are ways to seek healing and change in these deep areas, though not the topic for now – but know that there is much to be experienced and know in this area (read an introduction Here).
Another facet of this is the logical through, revealed in scripture, that you can trust God no matter what. He wants the best for you and the people around you, no matter how bad it seems. When you get His perspective, you will start to relax and be able to trust completely His unwilling love.
This does not apply if you are following yourself: there are consequences for bad choices or sin -these are not from God’s leading. He hasn’t orchestrated these things, but in His love, He will allow you to go though consequences so that you turn away from sin and turn to Him…
The sorrow you should have in those places is the sorrow of repentance:
For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10
So, even if you are in this place due to your own sin, your own leading, you can still please God! How?
Fear Him and trust His unfailing love.
Not trusting in yourself or what you have done – but in what Jesus did once and for all. Jesus, the very Son of God – perfect, without fault, without sin, came to earth and lived a perfect life. In total obedience He paid the price of all of your sin – past present and future.
An absolute perfect sacrifice – One that is completely acceptable to God – and far above any standard you could ever achieve.
You have a choice – trust in your own good works, your own effort, your own sinlessness, your own religion – or throw yourself on His mercy – trust in His perfect sacrifice and fall into His arms of unending grace and love.
That is how you please God!
Do it today.
Song – Chris Tomlin:
Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner’s heart
You lead us by still waters and to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
Great is Your love and justice God
You use the weak to lead the strong
You lead us in the song of Your salvation
And all Your people sing along
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Conclusion: It is easy to please God if you trust in Jesus who has already satisfied the requirements of His law – but it goes against our very nature, we need to learn to trust Him not ourselves.
PRAYER: Lord, uproot the pride and self-confidence we have in all areas. May we be convicted and see the error of our ways. May the powerful judgement you promise result in fear so that we can turn from these things and turn to you. May we see the perfect sacrifice of Jesus and trust in Your unfailing love – accepting Your complete forgiveness and acceptance so that we may we please You.
NOTES:
Psalm 51
A psalm of David, regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.
For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
But you desire honesty from the womb,
teaching me wisdom even there.
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.
Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that my mouth may praise you.
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Look with favor on Zion and help her;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit—
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.