He Does As He Pleases

~ Jubin Kurian Varghese

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all the he pleases.”
(Psalm 115:3)

Stop and imagine for a moment what it means for God to do as He pleases. It means that He:

  • allows evil and does good, as it pleases Him,
  • creates and destroys, as it pleases Him,
  • shows mercy and withholds it, as it pleases Him,
  • gives us success or takes it away, as it pleases Him.
  • gives us a spouse or not, as it pleases Him,
  • allows the world to be brought to its knees with a pandemic and can bring an end to it, as it pleases Him.

Psalm 135:6 says something similar, “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”

Not only does God do as he pleases, there is no one who can stop him or question his actions. King Nebuchadnezzar knew this and said, “he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”” (Daniel 4:35).

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that God does as he pleases, since the “earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1) and “by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him”. (Colossians 1:16)

This reality is humbling and it crushes our ego. We are all subject to God, who acts exactly according to how He wants, with no external pressure at all.

So then what are we? Where do we stand in all of this? Or we can ask the question like King David did, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4).

God’s Pleasure Is Good For Us

King David’s question comes at the heels of him considering the majesty of God. Indeed God is far more majestic and awesome than we think, for He is “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” and the angels continually sing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”. (Isaiah 6: 1, 3)

As opposed to the majesty of God, we look at ourselves and see what? We see that:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18).

Yet God’s pleasure did not lie with the destruction of his children, but in saving them. He was pleased to save His children and bring them to Himself, that they may make much of Him.

But the problem of bringing this sinful people into his presence remained, for He is far too pure to look at evil and suffer it (Habakkuk 1:13), but for the sake of His children, He let another suffer. Jesus died on the cross to bridge that gap, and God was pleased to allow Jesus to suffer. (Isaiah 53:10)

Yes, God was pleased to allow Jesus to suffer because it meant that His children could now turn from their path of eternal destruction and now find eternal life and joy in God.

God was pleased to make Jesus the propitiation for our sins, turning His wrath into favor towards us, that His mercy and grace might be magnified for us and the world to see.

We don’t need to fear being subject to a capricious God but we can comfort ourselves in a God who is in complete control and works according to His good pleasure, and that pleasure is good for us.

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