The Lord delights

“The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.” Psalm 147:11
Here’s a wonderful, amazing thing: did you know that there are things you can do that causes God to delight? But there’s a clinch: it’s not works that we do, that put a smile on His face, but rather it’s our choices and our attitude towards Him. Today’s verse tells us that God delights when we fear Him and put our hope in His unfailing love.
Fearing God is something we read about all through the Bible. We think of the word ‘fear’ as being a phobia, afraid of something. As Christians, we don’t need to be scared of God in the sense that if we step out of line just a little bit, we will be judged. The word fear also includes reverence, awe, and respect. Think about how we respect things that are more powerful than us. We don’t step out to cross the road right in front of a bus – not because we are scared of the bus, per se, but because we respect that in the case of a collision, the bus is always going to win. This is a poor analogy to how we are to fear God: on the one hand we love Him and know that He loves us, like a Father and child, but on the other we know that He is the all-knowing, all-powerful, Creator and King of the Universe.
Have you put your hope in His unfailing love? If so, then that is a decision that you made of your own free will. God doesn’t force anyone to love Him or trust in Him. Those things can’t be forced. Free will is one of the greatest things that God has given to mankind – and many people use their free will to shun God, the one who gave them life in the first place, and spend their entire life serving themselves. That’s why God delights when we use our free will to serve Him.