The LORD's Day August 19, 2007

The Lord Does Whatever Pleases Him

Psalm 135.1-7

Ever have the feeling of wondering why God did something? Here’s one I have heard- if He knew man was going to sin, why did He create us- look at all the pain and suffering it has produced Thoughts like that are not wise to think. We are trying to put ourselves on the level of God’s thinking. That is utterly impossible.

This verse is sometimes difficult to accept: The LORD does whatever pleases Him.
to delight in, take pleasure in, desire, to move, to bend down

does- accomplishes


We don’t have difficulty accepting it when we prayed and what we hoped for in the answer turns out to be yes. God answers prayer. But what we pray for doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the answer is “no.” Some times it is, “wait.” The LORD does whatever pleases Him.

How do we react when He doesn’t answer the way we thought He would? How do accept it? We can whine and cry and fuss. We did that at times when we were little children and immature believers and felt we had to have our own way. We forgot or were in the process of learning that The LORD does whatever pleases Him.

God has given us brains to think with. He wants us to work through these things both in our hearts and in our minds. He created us with intelligence and working through all of this is part of our spiritual growth.

What should we do when we encounter spiritual disappointment? When we prayed for something to happen and it didn’t? When things happen we don’t understand...

We must...

1. Consider the Character of God

The LORD does whatever pleases Him. Think about Who He is- The LORD.

The Existing One - Who was and is and is to come.

the LORD is good- vs. 3 The Psalms are among other things personal experiences of the Psalmists...
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Psalm 9.9

For the LORD is righteous, He loves justice; upright men will see His face. 11.7


The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 18.2

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. Psalm 23.1

The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? 27.1

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song. Psalm 28.7

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34.8

The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 116.5

The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; Psalm 121.5

The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all He has made. 145.13

The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth 145.18

The LORD is not sitting on His throne waiting to turn down your prayer requests. Some may look at Him that way but that is because they don’t know Him very well.
God’s character is compassion and mercy, pity and concern.

In fact He is so good He will not do something that is out of His Will- whatever pleases Him. We think of someone who does whatever he pleases as being spoiled and self consumed. What pleases the LORD is holy, goodness purity. All of His purposes line up with righteousness because they are righteous.

He cares about us so much that He will not give us an answer prayer that would hurt us or end up not being as good as we thought it would be. How often we pray and we only have partial knowledge of the thing we are praying for. The LORD knows everything and He sees everything and He knows the future.

The bottom line is that God will do what He wants and it up to us to submit to it. Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer (Isaiah 53.10... KJV Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief) This is the same word used in this verse in Psalm 135. We all have out Gethsemanes (place of crushing), times of severe pressure, times of going through suffering. We want to avoid pain but many times it is the LORD’s will to bring us through it not around it.

In all these things God is working them together for our good because He is good. He loves us. God is love. Consider the character of God.


2. Remember the Ways Of God

Beyond our finding out


I hate it when these verses are disregarded:
Isaiah 55.8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. I don’t like it when people think they know what is going on in another person’s life and they claim to know what God is thinking. I have learned to steer clear of people like that. I don’t like what it does to the flock or individual sheep. Spiritual busybodies are arrogant. They upset the flock of God. Paul tells the church at Thessalonica and Timothy that he needed to lead the people of his day away from that activity. (II Thessalonians 3.11, I Timothy 5.13)

It is so important for us to hear and hide these verses about God doing whatever He pleases in our hearts. There are times when we simply need to trust the LORD. His ways are beyond our finding out (Romans 11.33). They are unsearchable and they are cannot be comprehended or His paths traced out. We guess at the whys which is not wise. The LORD is working all things together for your good. He is going to bring you into His goodness and display His glory.

3. Think about the love of the LORD

No matter what happens conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel and remember that God loves you.

When I graduated from High School I decided to work a year before going to college. My mother came to me about a month before with a decision my dad and she had made. She said, “I want you to give me ten dollars a week for living here.” I protested. This was my house I lived with my parents for almost 18 years now I am going to have to pay? I submitted and I am so glad I did. They were teaching me responsibility. It hurt at first. I know they loved me too much to let me be irresponsible. They were acting sovereignly.

God moves along His plan in our lives. Sometimes we feel bad. We must be careful. Oswald Chambers wrote that self pity is a sin. When we feel bad for ourselves we can move in our thoughts to: “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult. When we find sympathizers we are off the good path. They are abundant when I bellyache. God help us here. We are soldiers of the cross not members of the country club Jesus suffered and so will we If we do not go through discipline at times I doubt whether you are a true child of God. All true children are disciplined. You know when you are in a store and a child is acting up you think, “If that were my kid...” But the truth he isn’t and there is little you can do about it. If you tried to discipline him you would end up in trouble- big trouble. When you are disciplined God is treating you as true children and that is what you are
4. Trust in the promises of God

He is faithful to all of them The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. 145.13

The promises Jesus made of the kingdom of God coming to the twelve appeared they weren’t going to be fulfilled when He died but they were because He rose again

We spend a great deal of mental energy trying to figure out how God will fulfill His promises. We even spend a great deal of energy on the when’s- it happened the first time and it is happening again I Peter 1.10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. The prophets received the Word of God concerning the coming of Jesus the first time. They wanted to know when. Jesus promised He would come again. People are still trying and figure out when.

As with this promise, as with all His promises when we have to wait we must trust. What He said He will do He is faithful to all his promises... wait

God is sovereign in doing what pleases Him as well as when it pleases Him. His Spirit moves as He wills. How much better our lives would be if we lived that way and according to the truths we are sharing this morning. So much frustration takes place today because we think we know best or we wonder why God has not done something when we have been praying and calling on His name. It is because He does whatever pleases him when He is ready.

5. Rest in the Arms of God

Sometimes you can see clearly. Sometimes our vision is clouded. We can not see things clearly. He will carry us in those times. I like that verse to that song, “He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on...” Rest His Arms.

When you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Sometimes our visibility is zero.
We cannot see anything up ahead. Grief and depression are like that. Depression often brings about thoughts of doom and gloom and feelings like everything is going down the drain. Sometimes a person reaches that point after they have tried everything and it has not turned out the way they wanted... Elijah.

When you can’t trace His Hand you can always trust His heart (Spurgeon)

The LORD does whatever pleases Him.
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The LORD’s Day
August 19, 2007

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Prayer
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
The LORD Does Whatever Pleases Him Psalm 135.1-7

*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*
Please join us for coffee and bagels downstairs if you are visiting today.


This Week
Bible Reading Psalm 138-140

Monday Men’s Prayer Meeting 6:30am in the church basement
Wednesday Bible Study -7:30pm at the parsonage
Thursday Bible Study 10:30am in the church basement
Next Lord’s Day
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children)
Spanish Service- 4pm
Prayer in the Parsonage Backyard-6pm

In Your Prayers For All of God’s People

Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave right now, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son on his third tour of Iraq- He will be there until October. Please pray for the whole family. Billy Knapp, Jr. in Iraq with the Marines (neighbor of the church and Pastor- Billy’s sister graduated from Good Shepherd). He is due home at Thanksgiving. Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton. Pastor’s nephews’ and niece’s cousin Kim’s husband, Jay, in Iraq. Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan and Tom Hindelang safe during their times in Iraq. Christine Frankland, Katharina’s daughter undergoing treatment for leukemia. Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for fibromyalgia. Pray for Eloise Brooks in Sunrise Manor undergoing rehab. Remember Jean Louis as both he and Eloise are on dialysis. Grace Martin, Edie Raevis’ daughter, undergoing treatment for pain management on her back. Edie’s daughter’s mother-in-law, Millie Espisito undergoing chemotherapy and has a severe infection. Reginald Mooney, friend of Terri and John Garry, with a tumor in his kidney. Please remember Pastor’s friend Kim Richardson’s (who is recovering from a heart attack) daughter, Kelly, finished chemotherapy this week. Please remember this whole family in prayer.. Jeannie Rocarro recovering from surgery. Pastor Jerry Bonfiglio’s family who has been through so much grief this summer... Leah May’s cousin, Joan, respiratory problems, now in rehab. Lucy Mancini under Neurologist’s and Orthopedic Specialist’s care and physical therapy for pain and injuries resulting from the accident. MRI results will be made known this week. Mary Butler, Pastor’s family’s former neighbor from Bellmore and dear family friend, recovering from surgery removing a tumor in the colon as well as removal of gall bladder and appendix. Stephen Huges, brother of a Good Shepherd Nursery School Mom, their parents home in Hewlett was destroyed in a fire. He has burns over 20% of his body and is Nassau County Medical Center.

If you would like to help with the Sunday Morning Bagel ministry see John or Terri Garry.

Notes on Our Time in the Word of God This Morning:
The LORD Does Whatever Pleases Him

Psalm 135.1-7

Pastor’s messages are now available online:
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
Church Phone: 631-969-1730
1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 111706-5436
Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all for the glory of God.
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Additional Reflections on the Message:
The Manifold Grace of God - Living Water pg.76

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. - Romans 8:26

I have discovered through the years that many of my prayers were completely out of the will of God. There were things I was almost insisting that God do, but in His love and goodness to me, He didn't do them. Today I am as thankful for the prayers that God did not answer as I am for the prayers that God did answer.

- Chuck Smith