How do you view God? Do you view God as a generally happy and contented being, or do you view God as a generally frustrated and disgruntled being? While there are certainly many verses in the Bible about God judging sin or being angry with those who sin (because He is just, righteous and holy), there are also verses about God being joyful and rejoicing. It is important to know how we view God since that will often affect how we view ourselves and how we relate to Him.
Let me add one point before continuing: For the lost person who does not come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness, there is wrath that remains on you for eternity because of your sins (John 3:18; Ephesians 2:3; Revelation 20:11-15). While there is “no condemnation” for Christians (Romans 8:1), there is nothing but eternal condemnation for those who reject Christ. God, however, with joy and great love, offers forgiveness in Christ Jesus for those who put their trust in Him. This article, then, is one aimed at how Christians view and relate to God, as well as how lost sinners might view God’s acceptance of them upon repentance and trust in Christ. I also want to dispel the notion that God is an angry, frustrated, growling “old man” who has not an single dose of joy in Him.
Do we believe that wherever God dwells, that it is a place of mourning, drab and dull? Or do we view the place where God dwells as a place of joy, celebration, and peace? Zephaniah 3:17 gives us a glimpse into the joy of God:
“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
When we think about the idea of what God rejoices over, or, to put it in more modern terms, “What makes God happy?,” we see that His people are the source of His delight. How many Christians in our world believe that God rejoices over them? How many Christians in the world believe that God exults over them “with loud singing”? How many Christians believe that God’s song towards us is one of judgement and wrath instead of a joyful, exuberant song of rejoicing, gladness, and “loud singing,” as Zephaniah notes here?
Zephaniah isn’t the only passage that gives us a glimpse into the joy of God. Isaiah 62:5 says:
“For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
In what way does a bridegroom rejoice over his bride? He is thrilled! He is excited! He is smiling! He is joyful over his bride! Isaiah tells us here that God rejoices over His people “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride…” It might be odd for some to think that God “rejoices” at all, but what would it do for Christians to know that God not only “rejoices” but that He rejoices OVER THEM? We are tapping into a root of pure love here, and it is this: Rejoicing in, celebrating, and exulting in the one you love. We have often heard that true love is a choice, and I believe this is true on many levels. Given that definition some might snarl at the idea that love is “rejoicing in, celebrating, and exulting in the one you love,” but what if we can combine the two concepts? Can we say that God is Choosing to rejoice over His children BECAUSE HE DELIGHTS TO REJOICE OVER HIS CHILDREN? Can we say that God is Choosing to love His children BECAUSE HE DELIGHTS TO LOVES HIS CHILDREN? Either way one wants to take this concept, the reality is that God is a rejoicing God. God Delights In His children! Do we view God as a God who delights and rejoices?
Another verse that talks about God rejoicing is Jeremiah 32:41:
“I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and my soul.”
The ESV Study Bible note says of this verse: “God keeps his promises, not grudgingly but with great delight.” Oftentimes we view God as a miser Who delights in giving crumbs to us. Instead, Jeremiah say of God’s children that He “will rejoice in doing them good.” How many Christians believe that God delights in (rejoices in) doing them “good”? On the contrary, how many Christians believe that God delights in doing evil to them? We can certainly look at the amount of evil in this world and think that God delights in evil since there is so much of it. Yet, Jeremiah tells us here that God does indeed rejoice in doing us “good.” This is an echo of this fact in Luke 11:9-13:
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Surely our heavenly Father gives us “good gifts” as well? Indeed, God delights in giving us good gifts! If I delight (and I do!) in giving good gifts to my children, then how much more does God delight in giving us good gifts?
Finally, in Luke 15 we see that God not only rejoices over His children, but He rejoices whenever lost, rebellious sinners come to Him. Jesus cites the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and the lost son, and summarizes its main point this way: “I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance” (Luke 15:7). In Luke 15:10, Jesus says about the lost coin, “I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” And the father at the end says to his older son about his lost son who has come home: “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32). The father basically throws a party because his son has returned. In the same way, there is great rejoicing (party-like!) in heaven whenever a lost sinner comes to Him.
So, how can these verses help to form (or reformulate) our view of God? If we have seen God as a stingy miser, how can these verses help to correct that view of God? Additionally, regarding ourselves (speaking to Christians), do we see God as rejoicing and singing over us? Do we believe that God actually delights in us? And how does that shape how we (I think most importantly) RELATE to God? Do we approach Him with great trembling believing that He might smite us at one wrong word, or do we approach Him as our heavenly Father who loves us, cares for us, has sent His son to be sacrificed for us, and who sings over us? Which song do we believe God sings over us: A dirge or a song of joy? Indeed, at the very least, these cited verses should help us to see that God can and DOES Rejoice, and that He rejoices over His children! God rejoices over those who come to Him! God takes delight in those who come to Him! Be encouraged, Christian, today, by the smile and the song of God!