God Rejoices Over Us

In one game in high school an all-star quarterback threw for 354 yards and four touchdowns. (Wow.) When he was able to talk to his father about it, his dad said, “And if you didn’t miss seeing that receiver wide open in the end zone you could have had a fifth touchdown.” The young man would spend the next number of years of his life looking for that fifth touchdown.

And our relationship with God can degenerate into a “performance” (the father in the story representing a demanding, unable to make happy Lord.) Part of the problem I’m convinced is that many preachers and pastors present God like this: with a furrowed brow and half-smile countenance (if any smile). Some of us see the Lord like that. In our heart of hearts it’s how we perceive Him. (Is it you?)

And our lives can become like we can never please God. We can never live up no matter how many TDs we throw or yards passing (we don’t pray enough, we don’t witness enough, we don’t read the Bible enough, we don’t do this or that enough). We always come up short. And that’s unfortunate. Because God isn’t like the father in the story at all. (Did you need to hear it?) Instead, God is happy with us even if (and when) we don’t throw any touchdown passes. His love has nothing to do with our performance. It has everything to do with who He is and what Jesus has done.

Meditate (consider for a while) the Bible verse: “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17) I especially like the parts in italics. They declare that I’m the focus of rejoicing in God’s heart! (And you are, too, who know His Son.)

(Thanks to Donnie Moore for sharing this truth.)