“The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will
magnify the law, and make [it] honourable.” (Isa 42:21 AV)
A
father can be pleased at many things.
Especially when it concerns his children. He can be pleased at how healthy they
are. He can be pleased with their
personality. He can be pleased with
their accomplishments; their scholastic achievements, their athletic feats, or
their success in career. But there is
one thing a godly father is more pleased with than anything else. He is pleased when his children reflect the
values which he has taught them all his life.
Not for ego’s sake. But because
these values are right. As he sits
around the dining room table and just listens to his adult children and their
spouses speak of life, he is struck with how much they have learned and how
deeply they value the truth of God’s word.
Even if dear old dad may not agree in every minor point, or he has
learned himself that he can learn from his own children, righteousness is the
currency of joy, pleasure, and satisfaction.
This
is the meaning of the verse. Not that
God is some person of egotistical motives that wishes to be right and all
others wrong. Not that He wants, or even
needs to be, proven right. That is why
He is well pleased. He is not well
pleased because, in some insignificant way, magnifies Himself at the expense of
others. He rejoices because
righteousness and the law are a beautiful thing! It is perfection! It is blessing! It is riches greater than material
things. The reason why righteousness
above is a personal possessive is that righteousness and God are one in the
same. God and truth are the same. Things are righteous because God is
righteous. Things are honorable because
God is honorable. Righteousness is God
and God is righteousness.
Which
brings us back to our example above.
When those who learn mirror the righteous values of their mentor, it
validates his ministry to them. He has
accomplished something. Even though
those values do not belong to him, he is still pleased that these values will
live on in one more generation! When the
righteousness of God and the law continue, God is pleased that His creation has
internalized what is good and right!
What a thrill!
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