“But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatever He hath pleased.”
Another translation of Psalm 115:3 is, “Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases.” On the surface this verse seems to make God cold, aloof and selfish. This is the view that a lot of people have of God: “He is in heaven, I am on earth, He can do whatever He wants to do, but it will have no effect on my life.” Man, is this a misinterpretation of this text. I sometimes think that we confuse Yahweh, our Lord and God with Allah, the cold and cruel god of Islam. Psalm 115:3 is actually good news and I wanted to explain why. First, it tells us that "our God is in the heavens." It is good to know that there is a God overseeing all that happens on earth and throughout the universe.. Daniel was asked to interpret a dream of Nebuchadnezzar's, and he answered the king in this way: “But there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, and makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days…”( Daniel 2:28) Daniel could interpret dreams because there was/is an all-knowing God in heaven who knows what is going on among people. Isn’t it a great comfort as we face trying days that there is a God in heaven who is sovereign and knows what is going on now and what will happen in the future? Good gracious, I feel sorry for people who do not have this assurance. I hope that you have it. Second, it tells us that “He hath done whatever He hath pleased…” Now, this looks cold and calculating, but it is far from that, for the whole story of the whole Bible is about what it pleased God to do. Where do I start? There is so much about what God has been pleased to do, and has been recorded in scripture, that we can only scratch the surface of what it means. It pleased God to love us. The Bible is full of the love of God. The Bible tells us that “we love Him because He first loved us.” (I John 4:19) Furthermore, it tells us in 1 John 4:10: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The very concept of love did not come from the heart of human beings, but from the heart of God. What has pleased Him is to love us. But you say, “What about His wrath.” That is real too, but wrath is not the essence of who and what God is. 1 John 4:10 told us that He “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Propitiation simply means that God’s Son, Jesus, took the wrath of God that should have been ours upon Himself so that we could be delivered from it. Those who trust Jesus as Savior need not fear the wrath of God, because it pleased Him for His Son to take it for us. It pleased God to bless us. The Bible is so full of this theme that I had to go to my concordance to find one verse that would fit it. As one good example, I found Psalm 29:11: “The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace…” One of my recurring themes in my teaching, preaching and writing is that God wants to bless us, but we need to want His blessings, and then we need to take those blessings and share God’s blessings with other people. It pleased God to save us by faith. Ephesians 2:8 tells us: “For by grace through faith are you saved…” “Grace” and “faith” mean that salvation is a free gift, and as Ephesians 2:9 tells us, salvation is “not of works lest any man should boast.” Hebrews 11:6 tells us that we can only please God by faith. I think that is because He chose to save us by faith. I could go on and on sharing the riches that come to mind from Psalm 115:3, but I think that what I have written will give you some idea of what I mean. Rejoice that there is a God in heaven who loves you and wants to bless you. Don’t shun the blessings that can come to you when you give your heart to Jesus. It pleases Him to bless you. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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