Seeking to Please My God

Have you ever seen a child after being told to clean his room, drag his feet, fold his arms, and lug himself ever so slowly towards that dreaded room? You know he is walking in the right direction, but it will take him three hours to get there, and once he gets there he sits down to read a book or play instead of getting down to business. In a stirring sermon I listened to recently, the speaker asked if that just might be a description of us as Christians. I am a child of God—that’s what I became when I was submerged under that water and had hands laid on me. Are there times that I drag my feet on the way to obeying Him? Has my desire to please Him diminished? 

The more I delved into this idea, the more one question kept coming to mind: Do I reallywant to please God? Or are His laws necessary burdens? There is a difference between obeying because I know it will yield positive results and obeying because I love the Lawmaker. So I’m asking myself—and I challenge you to ask yourself—do I wake up and ask God, “How can I please you more today than I did yesterday? Show me new ways I can serve you and glorify you!”
Compounding the issue, it’s so easy to get wrapped up in pleasing those around us–our friends, our boss, even our family. How often do we do things to gain the favor of other people, and forget to gain the favor of God? Am I spending more time trying to please my husband than I am trying to please my God? Are my day-to-day actions motivated by a clear desire to love, honor and glorify my God?

When I was young, there was a night I woke up in the middle of the night and cleaned the house just to please my mom—I wanted to do something nice for her. Have we lost that type of genuine desire to please our Heavenly Father? Are we willing to get up early, stay up late and sacrifice physical things to please Him? And we shouldn’t just be willing, we need to want to! I like to picture God looking down, pointing at me and saying, “I choose you. I want you to be my child and I want to have an intimate and loving relationship–the two of us in this thing together forever.” I think wanting to please Him has to start with grateful remembrance of that. I must begin, live and end every day as a child of God and take comfort in knowing God has given me everything I need to be a child of His for all eternity.

I think Psalm 116 illustrates the process we all need to go through when we find ourselves dragging our feet to please God. Read David’s words and see if you aren’t reminded of allGod has done for us. And then get down on your knees, up onto your feet and please Him more today than yesterday.

1. I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;

he heard my cry for mercy.

2. Because he turned his ear to me,

I will call on him as long as I live.

3. The cords of death entangled me,

the anguish of the grave came over me;

I was overcome by distress and sorrow.

4. Then I called on the name of the Lord:

“Lord, save me!”

5. The Lord is gracious and righteous;

our God is full of compassion.

6. The Lord protects the unwary;

when I was brought low, he saved me.

7. Return to your rest, my soul,

for the Lord has been good to you. 

8. For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling,

9. that I may walk before the Lord

in the land of the living.

12. What shall I return to the Lord

for all his goodness to me? 

16. Truly I am your servant, Lord;

I serve you just as my mother did;

you have freed me from my chains.