“Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; and let them say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant’” (Psalms 35:27 NASB).

The word is shalom— the Lord delights in the the shalom of His servant.  Most of us understand this particular word as meaning “peace,” and that it does; however, it is much, much broader than that.  It is translated  by multiple different words (though peace or a variant is used over 150 times) and has the overall sense of completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace.  It might well be rendered, “Welfare” (ESV) or, “Well-being” (NIV).  A more comprehensive look at it would be as follows:

Completeness (in number)

Safety, soundness (in body)

Welfare, health, prosperity

Peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment

Peace, friendship

of human relationships

with God, especially in covenant relationship

Peace (from war)

Peace (as an adjective)

—not a bad list, and things I think most folks would want present in their lives, things people pursue all the time although in all the wrong places.

The thing to pick up here is that God delights, not in these things in and of themselves, but when they characterize the life of one of His children.  In other words, it pleases God that His son or daughter possess these qualities.  That is, when you or I are safe and sound, when we’re healthy and prosperous, when we are at peace with God and men, when there is an absence of conflict, this delights God.

I could summarize it this way:  when I am happy, God is happy.

The apostle John conveys this selfsame message when he writes,  “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2).

It is noteworthy the words “His servant.”  The thing is, I don’t believe God is so pleased when the ungodly prosper, because if you read and understand the Scripture, you will find that, for the most part, the achieve prosperity in all the wrong ways, or with the wrong motives — or, they use what they have for the wrong things.  Non-Christians prosper, for sure, and there are reasons for this; but if I read this right (and I believe I do), then His delight is aroused when it is His servant that experiences the well-being.  I note too:  it is His servant — that is, a man or a woman who serves Him.  This by definition would disqualify the person who professes to believe in God and His Son, Jesus, but who does nothing to demonstrate that faith.  I do think it is God’s heart for that person to prosper, but servanthood—as least as it is seen here in Psalm 35—is the prerequisite.

What else I pick up here is God’s heart.  He is certainly not stingy, and I don’t believe for a moment that He takes pleasure in  a child of His suffering conflict , sickness, and poverty.  I don’t see that anywhere.  I mean, though Jesus “was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich.”  And He doesn’t withhold things from us.  Just one Psalm back we read, “O fear the Lord, you His saints; for to those who fear Him there is no want.  The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;  but they who seek the Lord shall not e in want of any good thing” (34:9-10).  And in the all-too-familiar Psalm, Psalm 23:  “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. . .”  God’s heart is shalom, and it so pleases Him when His children possess it.

The Greek equivalent to shalom is eirene, and it means essentially the same thing.  Thus, when Jesus greets the brothers holed up behind locked doors and says, “Peace by with you,” He is not only imparting an overall sense of assuring calm, but those qualities that can be best described as well-being.

God is concerned for our welfare, and He is quite happy when we have it.  This is good news, that we’ve a God like this.  It is okay to feel good.  It is okay to enjoy the good things of God; He delights in that.  But let’s make sure we believe this about Him, and let’s be sure to posture ourselves rightly by taking on the attitude of a servant.