Psalm 147:10-11 (NIV) 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.

I don’t think that many of us ever stop to think about what brings joy to God. After all, He is God, so what could we possibly do to make someone joyful who is all-sufficient and who is complete in Himself without anyone’s input? The Word of God tells us what we can do. It tells us that God gets enjoyment when anyone fears Him and puts their hope in His love. The word "delight" from the passage of scripture above means just that. According to the dictionary, delight means “a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment, joy or rapture.” It would seem a little dark to think that the Lord would get great pleasure from us fearing Him, but what that actually means is that He enjoys when we reverence Him. That means having a deep respect and awe of Him.

You may ask why an all-sufficient God would get pleasure out of human beings reverencing Him. To answer that, you have to remember that God is love. Love originates with Him and flows from Him. Because He loves His creation (us) so much, He gets great enjoyment out of us fearing Him and putting our hope in Him because that means that we are in the best position possible to lead a successful and victorious life. It’s like a father who has a son or daughter who respects him and follows his good instructions and advice to do well in life. A child like that brings great joy to him. God, being our Heavenly Father, also gets joy from knowing that we are on the right road.

Without God, we are lost and are headed for an eternity without Him. An eternity without God is the description of hell. Wherever God isn’t is not where you want to be. Since He is Light, Love and Life, without Him you would be in darkness, surrounded by hate and death. God wants everyone to know Him, love Him and revere Him because when we do, we will walk according to His commands, which lead to fullness of life here on earth and eternal life forever with Him in heaven.

Bring joy to the Lord by staying on the straight and narrow path that leads to life, which also leads to having a deep reverence for Him and to putting all of your hope in His love. There is nothing better that you can do for yourself in the process and you can take joy in knowing that you are bringing delight to the God who made you and who loves you!

Pastor Joey Vazquez