Have you ever thought about what impresses God? I mean, here’s the awesome Creator of the entire universe... He created earth... He created the sun, just a small star it is, among billions of stars in our galaxy alone. And then, He created all those other stars in billions more galaxies. And this incredible Creator names all those stars, like naming puppies or kittens...
Wouldn’t you think this vast, unimaginably wonderful universe of His, with all these stars that He has named one by one... wouldn’t you think He’d be impressed with His accomplishments? Well, in one sense He already is... it says in Genesis that after He created the sun, moon and stars, He paused and said that it was good.... a bit of an understatement!
Yet even this is not what impresses God. All of this creative genius in the universe? No! So maybe He’s impressed with other aspects of His creation like... lions or tigers or bears, oh my, or the grace and the beauty of a horse or an athlete training for the Olympics... one of those runners with long, lean, muscular legs: a little like Kobe Bryant on the L.A. Lakers. He put a lot into developing anatomy. But He’s not even impressed with this.
So what strikes the Lord? What moves Him and delights Him? Psalm 147 tells us. It says that His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor is 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.
Now I trust you find that as amazing as I do. Because out of all the wonderful things in God’s universe which might impress Him or delight Him or strike Him, causing Him to shake His head and say, “Now this is great... I love this... I’m so impressed!” Of all the things, what impresses Him most is when I hope in Him or stand back in awesome respect with happy-hearted worship. This is what impresses God.
Dr. John Piper — one of my favorite theologians — Dr. John Piper says that “the Good News for those who enjoy God’s being God is that He enjoys them. He delights in those who hope in His power. He loves to be God for those who are weak... He loves to be the God who is on the side of the needy. He is pleased (isn’t that something, that we can actually please God...we can give Him pleasure?!) He is pleased when we run to Him for help... His heart is warmed when we trust Him and He is moved when we obey Him.
You don’t have to go far to impress God... you don’t have to go to the outer limits... it’s not the naming of stars... it’s not the beauty of all creation around us. It’s you. When you hope, fear, when you trust and obey, God’s impressed!
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