After two weeks of feeling absolutely horrible, I was beginning to recover. I could sit up, I could read a book and understand the words, I was even a little hungry. Then the phone rang, and I received the best medicine there is. A sweet young man said, "I just wanted to see if you were feeling better, because you're da bomb, Grandma!"
I have never been called "da bomb." Never in my life has anyone else considered me "da bomb." So, coming from such an expert on the subject, I suddenly felt not a little better, but a whole lot better. Grandchildren have a way of doing that to us, don't they? In fact, I can think of only one other source of compliment that might feel any better.
And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8).
The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him” (Gen 18:17-19).
God complimented both Job and Abraham yet, as nearly as I can tell from reading these passages, neither of them knew anything about it. Wouldn't it be uplifting to know that God had complimented you to someone? Wouldn't it make you try even harder to please him? I am sure it would have done the same to both Abraham and Job. So why didn't God make sure they knew about it?
I have a theory about this. It's not that hard to know if God will compliment you or not. The Word of God, which we hold in our hands, tells us exactly the sorts of things that please him, and somehow, long before it was written, Job and Abraham knew those things as well.
Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight (Prov 11:20).
His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love (Ps 147:10-11).
Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight," declares the LORD (Jer 9:23-24).
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God (Heb 13:16).
I could multiply passages like these for pages and pages. These are the things that "delight" God and "please" him. If he were in a complimenting mood, the people who live this way would get a compliment on the same order as Job's and Abraham's. Fear God, hope in him, trust him, truly know him by knowing his Word, live righteously and blamelessly, share with those less fortunate, and love everyone, even your enemies. Do all those things, and anything else you can find in that Word, and God is giving you a compliment, whether you know it now or not. Someday, you will hear it yourself.
"Well done, good and faithful servant."
With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6:6-8).
Dene Ward
I have never been called "da bomb." Never in my life has anyone else considered me "da bomb." So, coming from such an expert on the subject, I suddenly felt not a little better, but a whole lot better. Grandchildren have a way of doing that to us, don't they? In fact, I can think of only one other source of compliment that might feel any better.
And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8).
The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him” (Gen 18:17-19).
God complimented both Job and Abraham yet, as nearly as I can tell from reading these passages, neither of them knew anything about it. Wouldn't it be uplifting to know that God had complimented you to someone? Wouldn't it make you try even harder to please him? I am sure it would have done the same to both Abraham and Job. So why didn't God make sure they knew about it?
I have a theory about this. It's not that hard to know if God will compliment you or not. The Word of God, which we hold in our hands, tells us exactly the sorts of things that please him, and somehow, long before it was written, Job and Abraham knew those things as well.
Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight (Prov 11:20).
His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love (Ps 147:10-11).
Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight," declares the LORD (Jer 9:23-24).
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God (Heb 13:16).
I could multiply passages like these for pages and pages. These are the things that "delight" God and "please" him. If he were in a complimenting mood, the people who live this way would get a compliment on the same order as Job's and Abraham's. Fear God, hope in him, trust him, truly know him by knowing his Word, live righteously and blamelessly, share with those less fortunate, and love everyone, even your enemies. Do all those things, and anything else you can find in that Word, and God is giving you a compliment, whether you know it now or not. Someday, you will hear it yourself.
"Well done, good and faithful servant."
With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6:6-8).
Dene Ward
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