The Foundation: 30 Coffee Mug Verses (The Unfiltered Edition)
This is a preview of one of the 30 "Coffee Cup Verses" in the book.
Psalm 115:3
"But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased."
The Assumption
The "Mug
Version" of this scripture is often used as a selective endorsement for
personal prosperity, as if God’s pleasure is primarily focused on the
fulfilment of our earthly desires. We tend to view the "pleasure" of
God through the lens of our own comfort, assuming that if He has the power to
do whatever He pleases, then His pleasure must surely align with our plans for
a painless life. This is the starting point of a milk-diet faith—an incomplete
understanding that treats the divine will of God as a cosmic servant to human
happiness rather than the absolute, unhindered liberty of the Creator.
The Historical Context
Psalm 115 was forged
in a furnace of pagan mockery. The surrounding nations, steeped in gross
idolatry, tauntingly asked the Israelites, "Where is now their God?"
because the God of Israel had no physical statue, no temple of gold they could
touch, and seemed to allow His people to endure seasons of silence and
struggle. The heathens measured a god’s power by visible, immediate
"results" and monuments. In the face of this ridicule, the Psalmist
did not point to a statue or a political victory; he pointed to the heavens. He
established a foundation that was not dependent on human sight or pagan
approval, but on the invisible, irresistible liberty of Jehovah.
The Testimony
The flow of the KJB
text here is an uncompromising strike against the idea that God is reactive.
The verse begins with the word "But," creating a sharp divide between
the futile idols of men and the living God. By stating that God is "in the
heavens," the text is not merely describing a location, but a position of
total judicial and creative authority. The phrase "he hath done" is a
declaration of finished, sovereign intent. The word "whatsoever"
leaves no corner of the universe outside His influence and dominion. It
signifies that from the path of a storm to the rise of an empire, or the
quietest moment of a believer's trial, nothing occurs by accident or by the
permission of a secondary power. He is the prime mover of all things, and His
"pleasure" is the final court of appeal.
The Verdict (Theology & Authority)
The carnal mind is
often troubled by the thought of a God who does exactly as He pleases, fearing
that such liberty might be arbitrary or unkind. Yet, this scripture is an
invitation to the highest form of security. To recognise that God does
whatsoever He pleases is to acknowledge that He is never frustrated, never
surprised, and never coerced. He does not labour under the weight of external
expectations, nor does He seek counsel from His creation to determine His next
move.
His pleasure is not a
whim; it is the outworking of a character that is perfectly holy, just, and
good. When we struggle to understand why a trial is permitted or why a prayer
seems unanswered, we are often trying to judge the "pleasure" of the
King by the limited standards of the subject. But the KJB reminds us that His
ways are higher than our ways. His unhindered liberty means that when He acts,
He does so with a wisdom that considers eternity, not just the fleeting
discomfort of the present hour. As we read in Ephesians 1:11, He "worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will".
This is the bedrock of
a mature faith: the realisation that God’s glory is the supreme goal of the
universe. If He were restricted by our "permission" or our
"logic," He would cease to be God. We find our greatest peace not
when we finally get our way, but when we finally surrender to His. We are
inspired to move higher because we realise that the One who holds our lives is
not a God who is "trying" to help us, but a God who has already
determined the end from the beginning for His own magnificent purposes. Respecting His freedom to act as He chooses means trusting that even
in our darkest moments, whatever brings Him honour is what most perfectly
reveals how good, just, and perfect He is.
Commission in Practice: (Faith in Action)
Consider the account
of Robert Jermain Thomas, a young Welshman who arrived on the shores of
Korea in September 1866. Thomas did not go to Korea with a "Mug
Version" expectation of a safe or comfortable career. He went with the
singular desire to bring the Word of God to a "Hermit Kingdom" that
had executed every foreigner who dared to enter. His "pleasure" was
to see the Bible in the hands of the Korean people, but the
"pleasure"—the sovereign will—of God had a different, deeper design
for his life.
As Thomas sailed up
the Taedong River on the armed merchant ship General Sherman, the vessel
was attacked by Korean shore batteries. The ship was set on fire and grounded.
While the crew fought for their lives, Thomas stood on the deck, his arms full
of Bibles. As the ship began to sink, he jumped into the water and swam to the
shore, not to save his own life, but to distribute the Word. Upon reaching the
mudflats, he was met by a soldier named Park Chun-gwon, who had orders to
execute him.
Thomas fell to his
knees, but not to beg for mercy. Instead, he held out his last Bible to his
executioner, pleading with the man to take it and read. Park hesitated, then
swung his sword, beheading the young missionary. To any observer that day on
the riverbank, it appeared that the "will" of a pagan soldier had
triumphed and that Thomas’s mission was a catastrophic failure.
However, God’s
unhindered liberty was already at work behind the scenes. Park Chun-gwon took
that Bible home. He couldn't bring himself to destroy it, and eventually, the
words he read transformed his heart, leading him to become one of the first
Christian leaders in that region. Even more remarkably, the pages of the Bibles
Thomas had thrown into the river were fished out by locals and used as
wallpaper for a small inn. Guests at the inn would lie in bed and read the Word
of God off the walls. Within decades, that very spot became the site of the
Great Pyongyang Revival.
Robert Jermain Thomas
never saw a single convert. His life ended in what appeared to be a brutal
interruption. Yet, his story brings us back to Psalm 115:3 with a crushing
weight of truth. God did exactly what He pleased. He used the death of a
willing servant to seed a nation. Thomas’s "ending" was not a
tragedy; it was the precise means by which God chose to display His glory. When
we stop demanding that God’s pleasure looks like our survival, we finally
become useful in His hands.
The Logs
- The Linguistic Root: The word "Pleased" (chaphets) conveys the image of a soul bending or inclining toward a specific delight. It suggests a focused, intentional desire that moves with purpose and joy toward its target.
- The KJB Cross-Reference: Isaiah 46:10—"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." This commentary reinforces that God’s pleasure is tied to His omniscience; He does what He pleases because He alone knows how it all ends.
- Historical Footnote: In the ancient Near East, kings often claimed they did as they pleased, but they were constantly thwarted by droughts, rebellions, or death. Psalm 115:3 contrasts this by showing that only the God of the Bible has the "heavens" as His throne, meaning His liberty is truly absolute and unthwartable.
- Cultural Context: The Taedong River event in 1866 serves as a "Practical Insight" into the doctrine of Providence. It demonstrates that God's "pleasure" can encompass a momentary earthly loss to secure an eternal spiritual win, a concept entirely foreign to modern, self-centred theology.
THE UNFILTERED RECAP
Power Quotes
- We find our greatest peace not when we finally get our way, but when we finally surrender to His.
- When we stop demanding that God’s pleasure looks like our survival, we finally become useful in His hands.
The Contextual Key
PREROGATIVE: The exclusive and sovereign right of God to
act according to His own will and for His own glory, independent of any
external authority.
The Sovereign Mandate
I do not seek your
counsel, nor do I require your permission to move within My creation. My
pleasure is the law of the universe, and My will is the anchor of all reality.
Be still and know that what I have decreed, I shall surely perform.
CLASSIFICATION DATA
- Volume 1: The Foundation
- Master Theme: The Sovereign Character
- Keywords: Absolute, Liberty, Heavenly, Supreme
- Day: 25
