What brings joy to the heart of God?
Recently I made a trip to my ophthalmologist for a routine eye exam. After he had examined my eyes and had looked at the results of several eye tests, he began to tell me about one of his daughters. She had recently started high school and was really doing well. His daughter had begun singing as a child – singing so well that they had taken her for voice lessons. When her voice teacher heard her sing, she was very encouraging and said she had an exceptional voice and could really do well in a singing career. My eye doctor then continued to tell me about his daughter’s writing ability. She was taking a writing class and again her teacher said that she was very gifted in writing. When composing poetry she could write on the spur of the moment and she could powerfully engage her readers.
As this doctor shared with me regarding his daughter, his face lit up with a broad smile, which conveyed his delight in his child. The thought came to me, “When do we, as God’s children, bring joy to His heart? When does God’s face light up with delight over one of us?”
In the Old Testament
I believe that Noah along with all the other Old Testament saints experienced the joy of the Lord over their lives. I believe that God’s face lit up with joy when His people looked to Him in faith and received His promise of salvation in their lives. Hebrews chapter 11 records a long list of men and women from the Old Testament who acted in faith and pleased God. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6). “By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Hebrews 11:7). Noah and his family had the divine favor and protection of God on their lives. God delighted in Noah because Noah had faith.
In the New Testament
Luke 10 recounts the story of when Jesus sent out His seventy disciples to participate and be a part of God’s harvest of souls. They went out proclaiming, “the kingdom of God has come near you” (verse 9). The seventy were amazed by all the things that God did through them. They returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.” The Lord then said that He saw, “Satan fall from heaven like lightening” (verse 18) and then in verse 20 Jesus said, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
Then the very next verse answers our question about God’s joy by stating, “At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said,
I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to the saints. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight.
So when does God’s face light up with joy? These verses tell us that when we act in faith, believing that Christ is our Redeemer, Savior and Friend, when we act in faith and see His miraculous work being accomplished in us and through us, His face lights up with joy. Then we also rejoice as a child of the King, Jesus.