God of Pleasure
Psalm 16:11 – The original plan was for man to be forever in God’s presence with fullness of joy and pleasures forever.
21:1-6 – God originally designed man to be joyful with gladness in His presence.
36:5-9 – God still wants His people to drink of the river of His delights. With Him is the fountain of life.
Genesis 1:26-30 – The first thing God told man to do was reproduce, obviously including sex, and then to eat.
2:18-25 – God’s plans for man and woman were to be married, blessed….
1:31 – Sex and eating God declared to be good, and there was no need for rules and restrictions to control the desires within Adam and Eve because they had perfect sinless minds.
2:15 – Work was also designed to provide pleasure.
Proverbs 5:18 and 19 – Sex in marriage is for pleasure.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-9 – Enjoy life with the woman you love.
3:12 and 13 – Work is a gift from God. Sex, eating, drinking, and work are for our pleasure.
Song of Solomon 7:7-12 – I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.
1 Corinthians 7:1-5
Genesis 3:1-ff
Adam and Eve enjoyed spiritual contentment because they had a pure relationship with God. God created them in His own image that included pure godly love. They longed for God, and He longed for them and enjoyed a mutually satisfying relationship of love. However, the love relationship was ruined with sin, but the longing for Yahweh remained within. In their fallen state, they no longer realized the craving or desire that remained in them was for God. Everyone is born with the same void in his or her heart, the longing for a loving relationship with God. Failing to acknowledge the craving within is for God, mankind has ever since tried to fill the void with the pleasures of the flesh, but in actuality it only served to expand the chasm. The pleasures of the flesh became the lust of the flesh.
Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:17-19 – Mankind lost his moral compass because he lost God. The good pleasures of the flesh were not designed for ungodly people who are prone to extremism and uncontrollable cravings without the sense to discern right from wrong and when enough is enough.
The fall of man and the sinfulness that followed have necessitated boundaries because that which was
originally intended for pleasure now gave way to sin. The Scriptures provide clear boundaries on bodily
pleasures. Sex is limited to the marriage bed; eating is regulated by bodily needs; alcohol is consumed in
moderation; work has limits such as the Sabbath day. Adultery, gluttony and drunkenness, and over work or laziness result when we fail to realize the cravings within are for a love relationship with our Father God.
God’s presence is where we find the fullness of joy, pleasures forever, joy with gladness, river of His delight, and the fountain of life. Immoral sexuality broadens the abyss between God and self which ensures sadness, misery, destruction, and in the end, eternal death.
