The One Who Pleases God More

 

 


[Psalm 69]

 

 

Last Sunday morning, I was in the pastoral office when my youngest daughter, Yaeun, sat quietly in the chair in front of me, seemingly deep in thought. Suddenly, she turned to me and asked, “Do you know how I feel?”

Wanting to draw out her feelings and empathize with her, I replied, “I’m not sure—how do you feel right now?”

Then Yaeun said, “Happy.”
So I asked her, “Why?”

Of course, when I asked that question, I had a certain expectation. Since I had been away from home for 13 days visiting Korea and Mongolia, I thought she would say, “I’m happy because Daddy came back.”

But to my surprise, Yaeun’s unexpected one-word answer was: “A perm.” And just like that, my hope was gone—haha.

The previous Saturday afternoon, when I returned from Korea and Mongolia, Yaeun came to the airport with my wife to greet me. That same day, she had gotten a perm. On Sunday morning, when we went to church, people like her aunt and grandmother complimented her new hairstyle, and I guess that’s why she was in such a good mood that morning.

Hearing her unexpected answer made me laugh inside, but I was still glad because my beloved daughter was happy.

As parents, when our children are happy, we are happy too. But I wonder—do our children also think about whether they are happy when their parents are happy?

Back in college, I once saw a younger student who looked worried because his report card hadn’t turned out well. I advised him, “Enjoy studying.” But he responded, “Try telling that to my parents.”

I could sense that he wanted to please his parents by getting good grades, but it didn’t seem like it brought him personal joy.

The spiritual lesson I want to draw from this is: bringing joy to God the Father should be the joy of us, His children.

Just as it seemed burdensome for that student to please his parents, pleasing our heavenly Father must not feel like a burden to us. Rather, it should be our delight and our joy to make Him glad.

So then, how can we please God more?

Of course, we can say that obeying God's Word is one way to please Him. But instead of focusing only on our actions, I would like to shift the focus to our being—what kind of children of God we are called to be.

In today’s passage, Psalm 69:31, the psalmist David says:
“This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves.”

David knew what truly pleases God. It was not merely offering an ox or a bull, but praising the name of the Lord and glorifying Him with thanksgiving (v. 30).

With this verse at the center, under the title “The One Who Pleases God More,” I would like to reflect on four characteristics of such a person, and I pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us through them.

First, the one who pleases God more is the one who seeks the Lord.

Look at Psalm 69:6:
"Lord, the Lord Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me."
Here, “those who seek the Lord” and “those who hope in the Lord” refer to the same people. Those who hope in the Lord—that is, those who place their trust in Him—are the ones who seek Him.

Why did David place his hope in the Lord and seek Him earnestly?
Because he had fallen into a deep mire with no firm place to stand (v.2).

The reason David fell into that deep pit was because those who hated him without cause were more numerous than the hairs of his head (v.4).
In other words, he was in a desperate place because strong enemies who hated him for no reason sought to destroy his life.

Another reason he was in such despair is found in verse 8:
"I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my mother’s children."
While David was in extreme distress, what made it worse was that even his own brothers turned away from him. David was lonely.
He looked for someone to have compassion on him, someone to comfort him—but he found no one (v.20).

We, too, when we are placed in unjust situations like David, naturally seek someone to comfort us and have mercy on us. This is human instinct.
But sometimes God does not allow us to find anyone who will show us compassion or comfort us. Like Job, even the friends who came to comfort him only increased his anguish (Job 16:2).

God's intention in such times is to lead us to seek only Him—the One who truly has compassion on us and is our true source of comfort.

David, when he was trapped in a deep mire with nowhere to stand and abandoned even by his own brothers—unable to find anyone to show mercy or comfort—finally turned to God and prayed (Psalm 69:13).
In other words, when David was in that deep pit, he looked to the Lord and earnestly sought Him.

His final and ultimate prayer request was: “Save me, O God” (v.1).
And when he prayed this prayer for salvation, he said:
“I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God” (v.3).

He had cried out to God so desperately for salvation that he was physically exhausted, his throat dried up, and his eyes failed from straining to see God's help.
While longing for God's saving grace, he also confessed his sin:
"You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you" (v.5).

Even though he was suffering unjustly at the hands of his enemies, David acknowledged that he could not claim innocence before God.
So, his suffering was actually beneficial to him—because through it, he was led to confess his sin before God.

After confessing his sin, David pleaded for God’s great mercy and the truth of His salvation (v.13).
This kind of prayer is also echoed in Psalm 57:3:
"He will send from heaven and save me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me—Selah—God will send forth His mercy and His truth."

This is poetic language personifying God’s loving and faithful acts of salvation (as interpreted by theologian Yoon Sun Park).
David, in a situation where his enemies were many—more than the hairs of his head—prayed to God, relying on His great love and the truth that brings salvation.

We, too, must pray to God—especially during times of unjust suffering, like David experienced.
That is not a time for discouragement, but rather a good opportunity for God’s help to be revealed.
Therefore, we must cry out to God with hope. And when we do, we must earnestly long for God’s answer to our prayers (vv. 16–17).

Secondly, the one who pleases God more is the meek.

Look at Psalm 69:32:
"The humble will see this and be glad; you who seek God, let your heart revive."
Here, the term "the humble" is the Hebrew word anawim, which means “those who suffer” (according to Yoon Sun Park).
In other words, those who please God are those who suffer because of their faith. And those who suffer for their faith become even more humble before God through that suffering.

Those who become humble are the ones who seek God.
In other words, those who are humbled through suffering look to God and rely on Him entirely, and so they pray to Him.
That is why David says:
"When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting…" (v.10).
This means that, in spiritual stillness, he "examined" himself, humbled himself, and prayed, fasting and wearing sackcloth (Yoon Sun Park).
It is an outward expression of humbling oneself through spiritual grief and praying to God.

These meek people rejoice even in suffering because they have a conviction and assurance about the salvation God will bring.
With that assurance, they pray and, ultimately, praise God (vv.29–30), and through that praise, their hearts are revived (v.32; see also Psalm 138:7).

Like the psalmist, even in the midst of trouble, we must experience the work of the Lord reviving our hearts as we humbly pray to Him.
We must experience how God strengthens our hearts when we bow before Him in humility and supplication (Psalm 10:17).

The meek, those who suffer for their faith, and those who are further humbled through their suffering—these are the people who please God.
Those who are meek in heart are the ones who please God.
Therefore, we should respond to Jesus’ invitation:
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart..." (Matthew 11:29).

Thirdly, the one who pleases God more is the needy.

Look at Psalm 69:33:
"For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise His who are prisoners."
David refers to himself as poor and sorrowful (v.29).
This does not merely mean that he was in a miserable external condition, but especially that his heart had become lowly so that he relied solely on the Lord (Yoon Sun Park).
He became needy because of great suffering.
In other words, David’s soul became poor as a result of falling into a deep pit with no place to stand.

That is why David prayed to God like this:
"Draw near to my soul and redeem it…" (v.18).
David, whose spirit had become poor through great suffering, pleaded for God to come near to him.
The reason is because, "It is good for me to be near God" (Psalm 73:28).

Jesus said:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3)
Here, the “poor in spirit” are those who endure in a state of spiritual poverty.
According to Yoon Sun Park, this spiritual sufferer is:

  1. First, one who recognizes their helpless situation and that there is no one to help them but God.

  2. Second, one who lives in opposition to the arrogant before God and, as a result, suffers persecution from those arrogant people.

  3. Third, one who is brokenhearted over their sin and repents.

Such a spiritually afflicted person is blessed because the kingdom of heaven is theirs—that is, they live under the spiritual rule of God.

The needy and the poor in spirit are those who please God.
The needy take God alone as their “Compassionate One” and “Comforter” (Psalm 69:20).
Therefore, because they live under God's spiritual rule, they enjoy the blessing of drawing near to Him.

Fourth and finally, those who please God more are those who love the name of the Lord.

Look at Psalm 69:36:
“The descendants of His servants will inherit it, and those who love His name will dwell in it.”
Those who love the name of the Lord praise His name (v.30).
And with thanksgiving, they declare the greatness of God (v.30).
David was certain that God would deliver him from the suffering and danger he was facing, and in that assurance of salvation, he praised the name of God and magnified Him with thanksgiving.

That’s why David says:
“Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and all that move in them, for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it” (vv. 34–35).
After God saves the people of Israel and rebuilds the cities of Judah, those who love the name of the Lord will dwell there forever.

Our holy God is a God who cherishes His holy name, which is profaned in the world (Ezekiel 36:21).
Therefore, God will sanctify His great name that was profaned among the nations—the very name that we have profaned among the people (v.23).
We must cherish the holy and great name of the Lord.
We must love the holy name of the Lord.
Those who love the holy name of the Lord are those who please Him.

Pleasing our Heavenly Father should become our joy.
Before we seek to please God through our actions, we must first seek to please Him more through our being.
So then, who are the ones that please God more?
They are those who seek the Lord, the meek, the needy, and those who love the name of the Lord.
I sincerely pray that you and I may become such people.

“I Want to Be the Joy of the Lord”

  1. I want to be the joy of the Lord
    Renew my heart, O Lord
    Make me into a new wineskin
    So I may shine with Your light

    Chorus:
    The one thing I desire
    Is to be the joy of the Lord
    The one thing I desire
    Is to be the joy of the Lord

  2. Humbly I offer You my heart
    Receive all that I am
    Wash and cleanse my heart
    So I may walk in Your way

 

 

Desiring to be the joy of the Lord,

 


Pastor James Kim
(Sharing from a faith life that seeks to focus more on being than doing)