At God's Good Pleasure
Language changes over time. I’ll confess, that bugs me. I like words to mean what they mean and to mean that forever. But, the reality is new words are created, old words are redefined, and some words and phrases drop off the charts and are no longer used. No one talks of going to a “wake snakes party,” anymore or of “telling a thumper” to get out of a tight spot.
I was reminded of such a phrase this week, a phrase I first heard while watching the 1962 epic film Lawrence of Arabia starring Peter O’Toole, and with a supporting cast of stars from Hollywood’s glory days that I doubt will ever be equaled. Midway through the film the viewer is treated to a bargaining discussion between T.E. Lawrence (O’Toole) and Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn) in which Auda repeatedly emphasizes that he does not “serve” and that no one makes him do anything. Auda does what he does “because it is my pleasure.”
We do not hear this phrase often, other than when it is used to emphasize that politicians in the United States serve “at the pleasure of the people.” Or, there was a time when “My pleasure” was a common response to, “Thank you.” A more common response today is, “Of course.” What reminded me of the phrase, “It is my pleasure,” this week was when I ran across it in the Psalms, reading that God does things “at his pleasure.”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
– Psalm 115:3, ESV
Whatever the LORD pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.
– Psalm 135:6, ESV
These are not an exact match in the phrasing, but the concept is the same. God does what he does because it is his pleasure to do so.
We must be careful not to read this as “having fun,” or that everything is enjoyable. “At his pleasure” simply means that God is the one who gets to decide what is right and good. We might not understand things the same way, and we may puzzle over God’s actions, but it is God’s pleasure to do what he will and he owes us no explanations for his choices. It is enough for us to know that it was his pleasure to do a thing and that, by his doing it, that thing is right and good.
In the two Psalms above, חָפֵ֣ץ (chaphets) can range in meaning from something I need to attend to or am merely mindful of, to something I intensely desire. It can describe what a person has dispassionately decided to do, or it can describe the strong delight and pleasure a husband finds in his wife, as in the Song of Solomon.
Moving to the New Testament, we find the companion term θέλημά (thleima), describing an act of will or desire. If I want something to play out a certain way, it is my “thleima” that it should do so.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
– Revelation 4:11, KJV
God created all things. That includes you and me. God created us, because it was his pleasure to do so.
Other occurrences of this phrase are more challenging to grasp. They are gut wrenching and tear inducing. One of the most stunning examples of this is Isaiah 53. (For context, I strongly urge you to read the entire chapter.)
But Yahweh was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If You would place His soul as a guilt offering,
He will see His seed,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand.As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
– Isaiah 53:11, LSB
It is difficult to look at the brutality of the treatment Jesus received and reconcile that with “Yahweh was pleased to crush him.” There are those who delight in causing others to suffer. We call them “sadists.” God is not a sadist, so how is it that it was God’s pleasure that Jesus could suffer such agony?
It is not that God was pleased in or with the suffering, but rather by the outcome of it. “…the Righteous one, My servant, will justify the many as He will bear their iniquities.”1 It was God’s pleasure to do whatever he had to do so secure my cleansing, and your cleansing.
That is big love!
We see this emphasized by the apostle Paul when he wrote to the church at Corinth.
…it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
– 1 Corinthians 1:21b, ESV
We don’t have to fully grasp what drives God to do what he does. The verse above says it is God’s pleasure to save those who believe, rather than those who understand. I have high confidence the day will come when we have full clarity. All the fogginess of our understanding will be removed.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
– 1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV
For now, I can rest in the beautiful assurance that God called me by his grace and was pleased to reveal his Son in me,2 and to adopt me to himself as a son through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.3
It is enough for me to know these things.
1. Isaiah 53:11
2. Galatians 1:15-16
3. Ephesians 1:5
