What Makes God Happy?

Then I was beside (God) [. . .] Rejoicing in His inhabited world. And my delight was with the sons of men. Proverbs 8:30-31

When dealing with something as high, holy and out of reach as the feelings of God, humans are obviously at a disadvantage. We can’t even see His face while He knows the number of the hairs on our head! But we do know some things about His feelings because He has chosen to let us in on the secret. Including what makes Him happy.
In the eighth chapter of Proverbs Jesus is personified as pure wisdom and we are given a glimpse of what it was like for Him and God to be creating the worlds together.

The whole chapter is happy and upbeat but those words hardly do justice to the intense feelings described in verse thirty-one. Here, the Hebrew word used for “rejoicing” is “laughter / play / make merry.” It carries the idea of kids romping in the first fresh snow of the season or a young couple giggling as they tickle the toes of their new baby. God knows how to laugh and wants us to do the same.

The Divine Trinity had a fun time putting this inhabited world together and Isaiah 65:18 instructs humans to join in this holy laughter. We, too, are supposed to rejoice over the created world. In this verse, “rejoice” carries the idea of spinning around as the laughter bubbles out in fun. We are to get a big kick out of just looking around. Spring flowers. Pounding surf. Bugs with lace wings. Birds that eat the bugs and mile-high mountains. How wonderful it all is!

Have you laughed today? If not, find something that pleases you then follow God’s example in Zephaniah 3:17. Throw back your head and sing!