What Were You Created For?
You were created to give God pleasure.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Rev. 4:11
What then gives God pleasure? I only found two verses that specifically use the word pleasure so we will look at those. Not to say that there aren’t other things that could be argued for, that give God pleasure, like us trusting Him, loving Him, obeying Him, etc.
The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Ps. 147:11
It pleases God when we fear Him. What kind of fear is meant here? Webster’s 1828 dictionary puts it like this: …the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience.
It follows then, that one of our purposes of existence is to fear God and it would be prudent for us to pray for this kind of fear towards God.
…Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. Ps. 35:27
The word “prosperity” here is shalom in the Hebrews. If you are a servant of God (a believing Christian by modern terms) then it gives God pleasure to see you have all the meanings of shalom, which are : safety, happiness, welfare, prosperity, rest, peace, health, favor, quiet, completeness, soundness, contentment, tranquility, friendship.
Another one of our purposes for existence then is to have all these meanings of shalom. It follows then, that we should pray for these things, try to get them, receive them. So, God really does want us to be happy after all, and so much more!
Comments always welcome.