“We Make God Smile”

I enjoy little children. When I see little children, I can’t help having a smile on my face…. they bring me joy as I watch them in their innocence, in their play… as I see them delight in a cookie or a toy … as I see them giggle or screech as their mom or dad pick them up and toss them in the air. I enjoy them…. they are so precious. Little children don’t annoy me. 

What about you and me? Does God enjoy us? I know God loves us and cares for us and rescued us out of the mire of our sin …. but does he enjoy us? Well the Psalmist tells us, “the Lord takes pleasure in his people.”(Ps. 149:4) But when he sees us, does he smile? Does he think, “they are so worth all I did to save them and bring them back to me … I would do it again… they are a delight to me. I can’t wait to  show them what I have in store for them when they come home to me one day in heaven…. they will shriek with joy and I will laugh with them… a laugh and joy that will thunder thru the heavens and never end….”

Let me say this. If we don’t believe God delights in us, we’re in trouble, and we are not going to do well. If we think that God just “puts up with us” out of duty, then it’s going to be very hard to trust him with our lives. Sure we make a lot of messes thru the years of our life, sure we make mistakes, we sin, we don’t think correctly….. we even get disgusted with ourselves, so why wouldn’t God get disgusted with us? Hmmmmm. 

Well, God is God  and we are not! He doesn’t think like us. He doesn’t change his mind about us because we’re having a bad day. God always loves us with a Godly love which includes delighting in his creation, in his “pearl of great price”, in his “treasure”. Of course it doesn’t mean that he condones our sin or does not correct us as a loving father does, but even then he does it out of his love for us, out of his delight in us. I know this seems a bit confusing because of how we often react when correcting our children…but God doesn’t act like us.

If we know we’re a delight and joy to the Lord, we won’t hesitate to approach him. We will know that our presence brings a smile to his face. We will be confident that he is always ready to help us. When it’s time to pray, we won’t hesitate to rush to greet the Lord because he’s been waiting for us and longs to see us. Even when we’ve failed, we will be quick to run back to the Lord knowing that we are a delight to him and he’s happy to have us back in his care. When the Lord sees us, he breaks into a big smile.

Can you believe it? We are a delight to the Lord and he loves us so. And that is the best of news.