how can we please god

"And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day, for thy good." It was all for their real good, their deep, full blessing to walk in the way of the divine commandments. The path of whole-hearted obedience is the only path of true happiness; and blessed be God, this path can always be trodden by those who love the Lord.

All this demands the serious consideration of those who really desire to be acceptable or agreeable to the heart of our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We may rest assured of this, that obedience is grateful to God; and "His commandments are not grievous;" nay, they are the sweet and precious expression of His love, and the fruit and evidence of the relationship, in which He stands to us. And not only so, but He graciously rewards our obedience by a fuller manifestation of Himself to our souls, and His dwelling with us. This comes out, with great fullness and beauty, in our Lord's reply to Judas not Iscariot, for whose question we may be thankful, "Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If a man love me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him." (John 14.)

Now, ought we not to seek to refresh the heart of our blessed Master, by a loving obedience to all His commandments? Only think, reader, what a privilege it is to be allowed to give joy to the heart of that blessed One who loved us and gave Himself for us. It is something wonderful that poor creatures such as we can in any way refresh the heart of Jesus; yet so it is, blessed be His Name! He delights in our keeping His commandments; and assuredly the thought of this should stir our whole moral being, and lead us to study His word, in order to find out, more and more, what His commandments are — so that we may do them.

Let us remember this. Let it sink down into the very deepest depths of our moral being. Nothing can rob us of the blessings and privileges flowing from obedience. The truth of this shines out before our eyes, in every section and on every page of the volume of God. At all times, in all places, and under all circumstances, the obedient soul was happy in God, and God was happy in him. It always holds good, whatever be the character of the dispensation, that, "To this man will I look, even to him who is of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word." Nothing can ever alter or touch this. It meets us in the fourth chapter of our blessed Book of Deuteronomy, in the words with which this section opens, "Now therefore hearken, O Israel, to the statutes and to the judgements which I teach you, for to do, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers gives you." It meets us in those precious words of our Lord, in John 14, on which we have been dwelling: "He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me," &c. And again, "If a man love me, he will keep my sayings." It shines with peculiar brightness, in the words of the inspired apostle John, "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him." (1 John 3:21-24.)

Passages might easily be multiplied, but there is no need. Those which we have quoted set before us, in the clearest and fullest way possible, the very highest motive for obedience, namely, its being agreeable to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ — well pleasing to God. True, we owe a hearty obedience on every ground. "We are not our own; we are bought with a price." We owe our life, our peace, our righteousness, our salvation, our everlasting felicity and glory, all to Him; so that nothing can exceed the moral weight of His claims upon us for a life of whole-hearted obedience. But, above and beyond His moral claims stands the marvellous fact that His heart is gratified, His spirit refreshed by our keeping His commandments, and doing those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Precious words! They set before us, most blessedly, the secret spring of that life which we, as Christians are called to live, from day to day — the life of simple, implicit and unqualified obedience, namely, a heart fearing the Lord — fearing Him, not in a servile spirit, but with all that deep, true, adoring love which the Holy Ghost sheds abroad in our hearts. It is this that delights the heart of our loving Father. His word to us is, "My son, give me thine heart." Where the heart is given, all follows, in lovely moral order. A loving heart finds its very deepest joy in obeying all God's commandments; and nothing is of any value to God but what springs from a loving heart. The heart is the source of all the issues of life; and, hence, when it is governed by the love of God there is a loving response to all His commandments. We love His commandments because we love Him. Every word of His is precious to the heart that loves Him. Every precept, every statute, every judgement, in a word, His whole law is loved, reverenced, and obeyed, because it has His Name, and His authority attached to it.

The true ground for a believer, and that which pleases God, is this, — not to do a thing simply because it is right, but because it is His will. The life that is formed on obedience is of an altogether different texture and source. To do things because they are right is to do without God and His word. It is merely idolizing self. The man becomes judge of all: "I think this, I do that, because it is right in my judgment." Obedience alone puts man down, and God in His place. This only is right. Hence therefore we find, as the first distinguishing trait of the divine life, the exercise of obedience: not only are His commandments to be kept, but also His word.

I repeat, it is exactly in this way (Christ, the blessed One, being our life) we are called to obey. Obedience is not the estimate of a measured rule, a canon to which we are bound, but the delight in love which refers to a person whose every command and expression of will governs this nature. Thereupon commands, precepts, perception of His mind, of what is pleasing to Him, all govern us; the written word being that which ministers this to us. I repeat, he who keeps the Lord's commands, loves. He who loves Him, and so his neighbour, has fulfilled the law; but subjection of delight to anything a person wills is absolute obedience, not a canon or measure I refer to, though in doing it I fulfil the canon. I am not ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμον, but ἔννομος Χριστῶ. I prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God, having offered my body a living sacrifice.

Obedience is better than sacrifice. It becomes us therefore to seek to please the Lord in our conduct by quietness and simplicity, rather than by aiming at big things in an ostentatious way. Thus we may be found walking with God like Enoch, who had the conscious witness that he pleased God. "Wherefore," says the Apostle, "we labour, that whether present or absent we may be accepted of [or, agreeable to] Him" (2 Cor. 5:9). We may observe how closely obedience is linked with righteousness, that leading principle which is the great moral law of the creation. God the Creator is sovereign, and in the nature of things His will must be law to the creature. His will must be right, and from this comes the big word righteousness which is so often misunderstood — a word that runs right through the Scriptures. To say obedience is right is simplicity itself, and the result is beautiful moral order; disobedience, on the contrary, is wrong, and the result is disorder and chaos.

Love to the children of God is shown by walking with them in the path of obedience to the will of God, not by walking with them in some other path. The divine safeguard for our conduct at all times is obedience to God that manifests our love to Him. What God has asked His children to do is not grievous (5:3), indeed, He only asks us to do that in which the divine nature finds its delight. His commandments are given to show His children how to find true enjoyment. When the Lord Jesus was on earth He found His pleasure in His Father’s commandments (John 15:10), and could say, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8).

Obedience to the word of the Lord is for the Father’s delight, and those who thus live for the Father and the Son will have them dwelling with them (John 14:23). Here we have obedience as the fruit and proof of love for the Lord, and His great love for us surely demands that we live constantly for His will and pleasure.