"Pleasure In His People"

"Enoch... had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:5-6).

That finite beings can bring pleasure to the heart of an infinite God is an amazing thing. Our Creator is emotionally involved in our existence, even to the degree that He took upon Himself the nature and experience of our existence.

"Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren... we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15).

One reason that faith so pleases our Lord is that He Himself knows the challenge of trusting God in a fallen world dominated by unbelief. The Lord Jesus Christ lived an earthly lifetime by faith. "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works" (John 14:10). Our Savior was "tempted in all points like as we are," including and especially in matters of the faith that is the spiritual lifeblood of the saints. "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17). He therefore perfectly understands that believing the Word of God involves great sacrifice of our natural inclinations, and great determination fueled by the Holy Spirit to rest our hearts in "Thus saith the Lord."

When a trusting son or daughter of God in Christ chooses to confess and believe the Scriptures in the face of so much that cries against them, our Heavenly Father is pleased. "Faith worketh by love," and there is in fact no greater expression of devotion to God than our determining to trust Him (Galatians 5:6). We live by faith, and we love by faith. There is no more elemental dynamic in our lives, and no greater way to honor and please the God so worthy of glory and pleasure. Doubtless in this hour, issues of life press against us, and call us to believe. Let us remember that joy, the joy of God Himself, is a primary and wondrous result of such faith, even as the Psalmist declared of our capacity to affect the emotional state of our infinite Creator...

"The Lord taketh pleasure in His people."
(Psalm 149:4)