What Pleases Him

Isaiah 65:8–16

“This is what the LORD says: “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,’ so will I do in behalf of My servants; I will not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for My people who seek Me. “But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget My holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in My sight and chose what displeases Me.” Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. You will leave your name for My chosen ones to use in their curses; the Sovereign LORD will put you to death, but to His servants He will give another name. Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My eyes.”

The Apostle James writes “is any one of you suffering? She should pray. Is anyone cheerful? She should sing praises (Jam 5:13).” To God our Father we sing with the psalmist, "all the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name (Psa 66:4)”, we are His servants, and we rejoice in being His and choose instead what pleases Him, unlike most of Israel at the time of the prophet Isaiah. Service to the one true God (v. 16) is life and brings blessings, pleasures in His right hand forevermore (Psa 16:11), Us His servants will eat, drink, and rejoice in and with Him (v. 13, Phi 4:4). King David surmised, “the steps of a person are established by the LORD, And He delights in her way When she falls, she will not be hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds her hand. I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or her descendants begging bread. All day long she is gracious and lends, And her descendants are a blessing (Psa 37:23–26).” Let us take delight in God, praise, worship, and thank Him, love Him by doing what pleases Him (I John 5:3), forsake futile rebelliousness and obey. Joshua, already an elder by then, seeing the tragic enfeeblement of his community presented his case for God to the people: “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD (Josh 24:15).” Brothers and sisters, may we have the same conviction all the days of our lives.