Yesterday was a good day. On a beach at Kapalua in Maui I witnessed our daughter pledge to join her life to a young man and vow to enter into the mystery of marriage with him “for as long as they both shall live.” There’s something about these kind of life milestones that causes you to reflect. Something about these visible transitions in the seasons of life that evokes memories of the past . . . thanksgiving for the present . . . and thoughts of wonder about the future. And all these thoughts . . . all these pictures . . . all these musings eventually lead to one place . . . one grand conclusion . . . one heartfelt expression . . .

Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. . . . I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD. (Psalm 104:1-2,33-34 ESV)

It’s that phrase in verse 34 that has caused me to pause . . . “may my meditation be pleasing to Him.”

The psalmist’s entire focus for this song concerns my great God and His great works. From His creative works to His sustaining works to to His life giving and life taking works, the psalmist “chews on” the evidence all about him and declares, “May the glory of the Lord endure forever, may the Lord rejoice in His works” (104:31).

To think of God rejoicing stretches the mind a bit. What does it look like? . . . what does it sound like, when God rejoices? I don’t know . . . but you know it must be the expression of perfect joy. It must be pleasure experienced in it’s most pure form. And I can kind of get God looking out at His magnificent creation . . . and saying again to Himself, “It is good. Not as good as before the fall. But it is still good. What can be known about Me is plain because of what I have created. My invisible attributes, my eternal power and divine nature, can be clearly perceived in all that things that I have made” (Romans 1:16). And so, I get God rejoicing in His wondrous works.

But taking pleasure in my mediation? Really? How do the thoughts formed in my mind even make it on the radar compared to the beauty of the magnificent work created at His hand? Another thing I don’t know . . . but it does. His God-breathed declaration in Psalm 104 says it does.

My mediation can bring pleasure to the “very great” God. The consideration of life events leading to the eventual conclusion of God’s faithfulness is, as the NKJV says, “sweet” to Him. Recognizing His hand in not only the work of creation, but also in the paths I have walked and then whispering a “Thank You, Lord,” brings Him a measure of delight. Thinking through the happenings of the previous 24 hours . . . the blessings of a daughter wed . . . and finding myself wanting to sing His praise for His goodness and favor . . . that too is a pleasing meditation to my God of wonders . . . “for I rejoice in the Lord.”

Yeah. A pretty good past 24 hours . . . some pretty sweet meditations . . . a pretty great God.

Spirit within me . . . keep the thoughts coming . . . prime the pump of pleasing meditations . . . cue the songs of praise within the heart . . . Bless the Lord, O my soul!