http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2004361
You Can Make God Rejoice
CAN we actually affect the way God feels? Does God have the capacity to rejoice? One dictionary definition of the word “God” is “the supreme or ultimate reality.” What if that awesome reality were simply a force? Could we expect an impersonal force to rejoice? Hardly. Consider, though, what the Bible says about God.
“God is a Spirit,” said Jesus Christ. (John 4:24) A spirit is a form of life that differs from humans. Though invisible to human eyes, a spirit has a body—“a spiritual one.” (1 Corinthians 15:44; John 1:18) Employing figures of speech, the Bible even speaks of God as having eyes, ears, hands, and so forth.* God also has a name—Jehovah. (Psalm 83:18) The God of the Bible, then, is a spirit person. (Hebrews 9:24) “He is the living God and the King to time indefinite.”—Jeremiah 10:10.
As a real living person, Jehovah is capable of thought and action. He manifests qualities and feelings, likes and dislikes. The Bible, in fact, abounds in expressions that reveal what things please or displease him. Whereas man-made gods and idols merely mirror the traits or qualities of their human inventors, the almighty God, Jehovah, is the very Originator of the emotions that he planted in humans.—Genesis 1:27; Isaiah 44:7-11.
Jehovah is without a doubt “the happy God.” (1 Timothy 1:11) He not only rejoices in his creative works but also takes pleasure in accomplishing his purpose. Through the prophet Isaiah, Jehovah declares: “Everything that is my delight I shall do . . . I have even spoken it; I shall also bring it in. I have formed it, I shall also do it.” (Isaiah 46:9-11) The psalmist sang: “Jehovah will rejoice in his works.” (Psalm 104:31) But there is yet another source of joy to God. He says: “Be wise, my son, and make my heart rejoice.” (Proverbs 27:11) Think of what that means—we can make God rejoice!
Why Does the Bible Describe God in Human Terms?
Since “God is a Spirit,” we cannot see him with our physical eyes. (John 4:24) The Bible therefore uses figures of speech, such as similes, metaphors, and anthropomorphisms to help us comprehend God’s might, majesty, and activities. Anthropomorphism (Greek, “man-form”) is the attributing of human characteristics to a nonhuman subject. So even though we do not know what God’s spirit body looks like, the Bible speaks of God as having eyes, ears, hands, arms, fingers, feet, and a heart.—Genesis 8:21; Exodus 3:20; 31:18; Job 40:9; Psalm 18:9; 34:15.
Such descriptive language does not mean that God’s spirit body has the same kind of members that human bodies have. Anthropomorphisms are not to be taken literally. They merely help humans to have a better understanding of God. Without such figures of speech, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for any description of God to be comprehensible to mere humans. However, that does not mean that Jehovah God’s personality has been fabricated by humans. The Bible clearly explains that man was created in God’s image—not God in man’s image. (Genesis 1:27) Because Bible writers were “inspired of God,” their depiction of God’s personality is in reality his own description of his personal qualities—the very qualities that he has implanted to varying degrees in his human creation. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) Rather than being man’s qualities in God, they are really God’s qualities in man.
