"Pleasures Forevermore"

Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

There is nothing in the world like a good, hearty laugh. When I really get to giggling, my whole body gets that “good hurt” feeling, tears are normally streaming down my face, and oftentimes the noises that come out of me are not very flattering. But I don’t mind, because when those good laughs come around, you can’t help but smile the rest of the day! I praise the Lord for laughter, it’s such good medicine, and such a funny and wonderful gift He gave us.

One of the things I’ve been learning heavily this year has been that God made us to experience joy. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” The thing that has hit me anew this year is what satisfaction really means in the Lord. So often, I thought satisfaction meant just being “ok” with what the Lord has given me, like no matter the circumstances, if I could just find satisfaction in God by hanging on by a thread, He was glorified. As long as I put on a good face and really just give all credit to the Lord in any and every situation, He was happy with me. But only half of that is true. Absolutely, when we turn around and give glory back to the Lord and praise Him through everything, He receives glory. But He doesn’t just desire for us to hang on by a thread either. He wants us to experience the fullness of His joy, truly He wants us to experience the pleasures that are at His right hand. He created the pleasures of this world FOR us, that we would delight in who God is, that He is a loving and caring God who wants us to enjoy good things. That’s the other half to being satisfied in Him.

I began to realize that when I laugh with my friends and enjoy life together, we give each other joy that is from God alone, and He gets glory out of that. When I admire His handiwork, when I notice the beauty of His creation, when I sing to Him, when I spend sweet time with family and friends, when I enjoy serving my customers, when I read His Word, when I talk about His goodness…I’m drawing from His never-ending well of joy and glorifying Him by tasting and seeing that the Lord is indeed GOOD! He is such a good, good God, and when we try so hard to look for ways to be satisfied in Him, I imagine He just thinks, “stop trying and just look around at the entire universe of joy I gave you!”

Laughter is one of my favorite things the Lord gave us, because it just shows His extravagant love for us. Why laughter? Have you ever thought about why we laugh? When we laugh, we literally feel good all over; it’s designed for that. God gave us all kinds of feel-good pleasures, and when you think about it, He didn’t have to give us any of those, it was truly out of the goodness of His heart! He so wants us to experience His joy that He commands it over and over in Scripture! What a good God- His commands are that we just love Him by loving the life He gave us! Nothing He commands is for our harm.

It’s Friday, and that means a weekend of friends and fun is ahead. I hope you have an opportunity to laugh your little head off this weekend.

Proverbs 31:25 “…and she laughs at the days to come.”