One of the verses I remember and learned as a young believer was Psalm 115:3 which says:
But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
I remember that because of the death of Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Christian University ministry Navigators. He died while attempting to rescue a young girl who was drowning. The girl made it out alive, but Mr. Trotman drowned. His then widow is quoted as saying, “Our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases.” I thought that was an incredible thing to say at the news of your husband’s death.
The verse is part of a Psalm which praises the God of Israel over the heathen gods of wood and stone. And what is it that makes the God of Israel distinct? It is that this God has joyous sovereignty.
The verb “He pleases” means that which gives Him pleasure, or is delightful to Him. This may be related to the passage in the NT wherein Paul wrote, “All things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28ff). The death of a husband, or child, or the cancer that takes a wife, or the Leukemia that plagues an infant are horrible tragedies, if it were not for the pleasure of God to perform His ultimate end-His own glory. And, His glory is good.
Only God, the God of Israel, has absolute ability to perform anything He wants to do. And that which He performs is governed by what pleases Him. Imagine doing what pleases you without restraint. Well, for us, it would immediately degenerate into self-indulgence or sinful pleasures like drinking, drugs, immorality, or self-fulfillment at the expense of this God. However, God is eternal and His eternal glory has been His pleasure for all that eternity. For us, anything that purports to be joyful and does not include God, the source of pleasure, is not truly joyful. Everything that we enjoy in life, if we receive joy from it, is a gift from God meant to cause us to give praise to the Giver of all that is good (Acts 14:17; 1 Timothy 6:17; James 1:17).
What are we doing that pleases God? What are we doing that puts Him on display in His great glory? What are we doing that gives Him joy?
Sketches of Scripture 