Desiring God - The Happiness of God

Chapter one is all about the happiness of God and whence it comes from. I was delighted myself to see that he opens up with the proper version of the first catechism question instead of his famous rendition of it. It seems to me that Piper is creedal at heart and used the alteration of "What is the chief end of man" to hammer a point home that our ultimate happiness and enjoyment, in this life and the next, is found in the Living God.

Throughout this section Piper does a wonderful job of defending the sovereignty of God and shows over and over again that His will is not thwarted. He even quotes ole Johnny Edwards to help the reader understand the difference between hidden and revealed will. Piper also shows that God delights in Himself, His Son, all His works, and His Glory He will not give to another.

The point I found most interesting was, of course, taken from C.S. Lewis' Reflections on the Psalms. I will not quote the whole passage, but at the end Lewis states,

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.

Wow! When I first read that my initial reaction was, "A Baptist agrees with this?" I have seen Lewis use this language many times before and is probably what helped me come to understand James' description of Faith and Works. None-the-less, it is a wonderful truth that our delight in God is not fulfilled until expressed outwardly in adoration of our Lord and Saviour. This is when Piper brings out is infamous thesis, "For God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." I always read this statement as God’s Glory being based on our satisfaction in Him, but this is not a statement about God per say, but a statement about man.

One problem I see is that he seemed to base God’s happiness on the fact that His will is never thwarted, that is, God is happy only because He gets his way. This is why Piper spends so much time on defending hidden and revealed will. With out that doctrine, the happiness of God would fall. I tend to see God's happiness as an intrinsic attribute of God. Something that is innate in Him as a being and not a result of action.