God's Greatest Pleasure

March 1, 2003 - Tonight, as I sit on the porch, our old German shepherd is lying at my feet. As a low mutter of thunder rumbles in the distance, he lifts his great head and gives a deep warning bark. Then, as the storm nears, he rises with a lurch and tears into the front yard to meet it.

by Ruth Bell Graham

The storm is on us, the great dog furiously doing battle with it. As it passes, he returns to the porch, settling contentedly at my feet convinced he has driven it away.

Protecting and pleasing us is his very life.

He is a German guard dog, given to us years ago by concerned friends. He had been carefully trained in search and rescue, attack, and obedience.

I cannot imagine an occasion when we would give the order to attack. It's the obedience training that gives us real joy. To stop, to sit, to lie down, to go away, to search, to stay, to heel. A disobedient dog is not only a headache; he can be a liability. Obedience makes a dog a joy.

Is it less so with God and His children?

I think obedience, more than anything else, must give the Lord pleasure. Simple obedience. Joyful, eager, unquestioning obedience; to be able to say with the psalmist, "I delight to do thy will, O my God" (Psalm 40:8, KJV), would be the height of training for the Christian.

For it is this that gives God the greatest pleasure.