“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable [pleasing in some versions]in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14………..
“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever…” Hebrews 13:20-21……….
“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” 2 Cor. 5:8-9…….
“Father, what is your word for me for today?” I essentially asked the Lord one morning as I finished off a wonderful walk with Him, loving Him, adoring Him, praising Him, worshiping Him, singing to Him, praying to Him, listening, ever listening, for His voice. I seek the Lord and commune with Him continually, day and night, but some times are extra focused, like when I walk with Him, and sometimes I seek an extra nugget of wisdom – like a word, a message, for a particular day. As I did on that day. And as He so graciously, lovingly, mercifully, generously gave to me. And perhaps you?
“Be pleasing in my sight,” the Spirit of God answered immediately. A perfect fit for what I had studied earlier that morning. And a perfect nugget of wisdom, as all of His nuggets of wisdom are, as all His wisdom is, not just for that day, but for all days, and not just for me, but for all of us.
Almost immediately after He delivered His message, His Spirit impressed something on my heart. The Lord doesn’t just want our actions, words, and thoughts to be PLEASING, but He wants them to be PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT. Shouldn’t that be obvious? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I believe there are at least two important aspects to why the Lord specifically admonishes us to be PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT. Yes, IN HIS SIGHT.
First, I believe He wants to remind us that ALL – absolutely EVERYTHING – that we DO, that we SAY, and that WE THINK, no matter how much we might fool and deceive ourselves into thinking that the Lord can’t see, IS SEEN BY GOD. He sees absolutely ALL OF US – how often? ALL THE TIME. So I believe He is reminding us we can keep nothing hidden from Him, and that we should strive that EVERYTHING we do, say, and think should bring Him glory, honor, praise, joy, and pleasure.
Second, I believe the Lord talks about being PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT because He wants us to strive to do, say, and think what PLEASES HIM. In other words, NOT what PLEASES US, and NOT what PLEASES THE WORLD. I believe He wants to remind us that our standards for what is pleasing SHOULD BE HIS STANDARDS. We should LOOK TO HIM, TO HIS SPIRIT, TO HIS WORD, TO HIS WAYS, to what is PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT, to be our standards – because they are HIS DESIRES, HIS COMMANDS, what BRINGS HIM GLORY.
The Lord could simply tell us to BE PLEASING, but instead He tells us to BE PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT, and if this isn’t a message from the Lord for every single one of our lives, for every single one of our days, for every single breath that we take, then I don’t know what is!
BE PLEASING IN THE LORD’S SIGHT, friend, BE PLEASING TO THE LORD. In WHAT YOU DO. In WHAT YOU SAY. In WHAT YOU THINK! Bring glory to His name!
AMEN!