The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Pleasure In His People"
How does God find it interesting and even enjoyable to communicate with beings whose hearts, minds, and thoughts He knows perfectly?
"Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways." (Psalm 139:2-3).
"The Lord looketh on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7).
"The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).
In human discourse, we communicate because we do not know the inner thoughts, perspectives, and desires of one another apart from expressing ourselves. This establishes and maintains our interest in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. If you knew exactly what I planned to write in this message, you very likely would not be reading it. God, conversely, loves fellowship with our hearts and minds to an infinitely greater degree than we will ever fully know. He finds "delight" in our prayers. Moreover, He gave His Son to suffering, forsakenness, and death on the cross of Calvary to redeem us unto living relationship and loving communication with Himself. How can it be that He seeks such communion with hearts and minds He so perfectly knows? From whence arises the interest?
Perhaps, no answer exists to this question, or at least one we might begin to fully comprehend. An educated guess, however, surely points to the Lord Jesus Christ, who dwells in every born again believer.
"God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).
We bring Christ to fellowship with our Father, as revealed in our particular persons and personalities. Sincere, humble, and trusting prayer does not involve merely ourselves, but ourselves as inhabited and led by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. His "Abba Father" flows upon the current of our own. Thus, as God's "dear children" we serve as means of conveying to Him the heart of His "dear Son," along with our hearts (Ephesians 5:1; Colossians 1:13). Certainly, we can see how this may please Him, although much mystery remains in the devotion of an infinite God to creatures such as ourselves. One can almost see David shake his head and furrow his brow with wonder as he penned the enigma of such interest: "I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me" (Psalm 40:17).
How can we matter so much to our Heavenly Father that He finds fellowship with us far more than interesting? How can He know us so well, and yet call us to express our hearts as if we might fascinate Him by what we communicate? Doubtless, Christ answers the question, as considered above. Many other possibilities likely exist that we may discover as we walk with our Lord by His Spirit, and in the pages of His Word. Most importantly, Scripture clearly bears witness to God's keen interest in us. How such truth can be truth bows before the simple fact that it is true. This will be enough to direct our way to the One who so loves us that the Psalmist could state the blessed reality in simple, but wondrous terms…
"The Lord taketh pleasure in His people."
(Psalm 149:4)
"O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely."
(Song of Solomon 2:14)
Weekly Memory Verse
He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.
(Isaiah 53:11)
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