Is God Against Pleasure?
It is possible to read the “Thou shall nots” of scripture and come away thinking that God is a cosmic killjoy who just wants to keep us from pleasure. Without proper understanding of His commands, we may erronuosly come to see God as the enemy of our joy. Moreover, the devil tries to trick us into believing that God is holding out on us by keeping us from “good things”. He used this trick in Eden and he still does it today (Genesis 3:4-5).
We need to know that God is not against us having pleasure, rather He created pleasure! It was His idea from the beginning, which the enemy perverted. The prohibitions of scripture are to be understood as an expression of God’s grace! When God says “Don’t”, He’s not keeping you FROM good thing, He’s keeping you FOR good things (Psalms 84:11). God wants us to trade the seasonal pleasures of Sin, for the deeply satisfying pleasures found in Him! (Hebrews 11:24–26, Psalm 16:11)
As C.S Lewis says, the basic human problem is not our pursuit of pleasure but that “we are far too easily pleased”. God holds out true joy to us, and we settle instead for temporal thrills and excitement. He offer us a spring of fresh living water and instead we long for stale muddied waters (Jeremiah 2:13). Rather than keeping us from joy, God is calling us to pursue real joy. He’s saying, “Come up higher, there are superior joys to be found in me. True joy and peace are found in me, and nothing else will satisfy the longing of your soul but ME”.
The pursuit of joy outside God will prove to be a frustrating journey. We will find, like the woman at the well in John chapter 4, that we can go from one (wo)man to another, from one relationship to another, from one thrill to the next, and still find our souls unsatisfied. This is because except God fills the void in our hearts nothing else will (John 4:13–14). And so God, in His mercy, keeps urging us to His way, His will, and ultimately to Himself.
God says:
Come, everyone who is thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you without money,
come, buy, and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost!
Why do you spend money on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.
Pay attention and come to Me;
listen, so that you will live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
the promises assured to David.
Isaiah 55:1–3 (HCSB)
Water, wine, milk, choicest foods, satisfaction, everlasting covenant — This is the offer of Messiah in the gospel! He’s calling, He’s offering true joy at no cost! Are you going to respond?
