The Lord's Pleasure

Scripture:
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
    make melody to our God on the lyre!
He covers the heavens with clouds;
    he prepares rain for the earth;
    he makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the beasts their food,
    and to the young ravens that cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Psalm 147:7-11

Observation: It pleases God when he cares for us! He takes pleasure when we trust in him - when we place our hope in him for his provision. He enjoys sending the rain even to simply provide food for beasts and birds, let alone when we trust that he will provide for us. On the flip side, he doesn't care at all about the things we do for ourselves. It doesn't delight or please him to watch us work and labor in order to produce our own provisions in life. As we toil to plow the earth for food, or earn money to buy bread, he really wishes we would simply hope for his love.

Application: Every day, I am proud about how well I do my job. I make plans, execute on those plans, and they work. Sometimes I thank God for his blessing, and I do know that God has blessed my work beyond what I have earned.

However, God takes DELIGHT when we simply trust in him. Even when I'm at my best with my faith in God, I am getting it backwards: I thank him for blessing my work, when instead I should be simply trusting him and looking for HIS work where I can join him.

God loves me - and all of us - so much, that it delights him when he can simply give us everything we need. He doesn't want us to go work for what we need. Of course we are to do his work, and sometimes that involves doing well at my job ... the place where he has placed me. But one way I could please God more is by simply allowing him to love me, and gladly receiving my daily bread from him without care or concern about what I might need to do to earn it.

Prayer: Abba, father, your love is beyond my imagination. As a father, I know how great it feels when I can care for my children, however you take it to the extreme of actually wishing we would just turn over all cares, worries, concerns, efforts to you and settle back into your loving arms. How amazing is your love!!! May I lean onto you more and more every day, trusting in your provision, enveloped in your great love. Amen.