Feeling His Pleasure

"I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." (Eric Liddell, from 'Chariots of Fire')

It wasn’t a sermon. It wasn’t a particular passage of scripture. What God used to draw me into the land of "I believe!" was a very out-of-church experience. Sometimes, people can tell you all day long what they believe and why, but it doesn’t register until you see it. For me, it was learning about a dear family friend wrestling with her own serious health issues yet setting them aside for a moment to comfort and encourage someone else that Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever, just as He said He is, and that the promise is no respecter of persons or their life circumstances.

It was simple, it was powerful, it was done in relative obscurity with no crowds to applaud, and it was simply an overflow of my friend’s passion for God expressed through hospitality. And for me, even though I wasn’t anywhere near that room, it won the day. Forever...

"One generation after another will celebrate Your great works; they will pass on the story of Your powerful acts to their children. Your majesty and glorious splendor have captivated me; I will meditate on Your wonders, sing songs of Your worth. We confess—there is nothing greater than You, God, nothing mightier than Your awesome works. I will tell of Your greatness as long as I have breath."—Psalm 145:4-6, The Voice

...What is amazing about the psalmist’s declaration that “one generation after another…will pass on the story” is not only that it has been proven true and fruitful since the day it came out of his writing instrument, but that, for the most part, those generations and the men and women in them are nameless. For every Abraham and Joshua and Gideon and David and the likes of Peter, John, and Paul who, in God’s wisdom, have been put in the spotlight as examples for our encouragement, there have been many more of significant personal influence who read like the prolonged “who are these people?” genealogies of Jesus’ earthly mom, Mary.

People like my friend in that hospital room.

And that same powerful, often anonymous torch has been passed to our hands, too, for one very good reason: The context of the psalmist’s declaration is that down through the ages, men and women who have encountered the living God—even through the example of others—have been so enthralled, so amazed and filled with joy, that they had to do something to express that praise inside that feels like a volcano about to bust out...back to God, for sure, but to somebody, anybody. It's in our spiritual DNA, whether we think we are good testifiers or not.

So, if what is bubbling up inside you is baking cookies for shut-ins, let it out. If it is in rolling up your sleeves after a long week’s work to put a new roof on a widow’s creaky home, let it out. If it is downloading God’s goodness to you in a journal, or painting something or composing something inspired by what God pours into your heart, let it out. If it is working with your hands or dancing with your feet, let it out.

No doubt, within all of us is a longing to be noticed, to be appreciated for who we are and how God uniquely created us. And God, in His great goodness and kindness, often brings people into our lives—even if just one or two—who are there to cheer us on when we need it most. But in the economy of the Kingdom, it seems that God’s preferred currency is this:

“Not you but rather I AM through you, and the things that bring you pleasure for My glory may seem small and unnoticed, but they bring Me pleasure because that's how I created you. Your love expressed is seen by Me and can be used as a life-changing sermon in someone’s life. You have no idea. So, don't hold back; whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in My Name, and I can multiply it before your very eyes, or even in a time and place you may never see.”

Even a lonely hospital room, one generation to another....