Revelation of God's Goodness

 

I have spent my life struggling to believe in the goodness of God.  I know Jesus died for me.  I know the bible says the He has numbered the hairs of my head and that He is longsuffering.  But, likely because of my upbringing, it is easier for me to relate to the God of wrath and judgment.  

It has always been easier for me to believe He would say, "You better tow the line, Woman, or prepare for Hell's fire!"  than for him to say, "Enter in, thou good and faithful servant."

There has been a journey God has taken me on in the last couple of months.  That journey has solidified something in my heart that I'm going to try to share with you today.  God is Love.

We learn this in Sunday school.  We sing 'Jesus Loves the Little Children,' and 'Jesus Loves Me,' but somehow it just didn't stick with me.  I knew it in my head but never quite got it into my heart.  It was the fear of God that brought me to the cross.

In fairness, I have been touched and even overcome by God's love at times in my life, but it was something that passed with the end of the prayer, or the church service, or whatever.

I was at a prayer meeting at a friend's house recently.  We take turns reading scripture that God has laid on our hearts and praying into those scriptures.  I was reading Psalm 103, probably at her request I don't remember for sure.  But as I read, I was smitten with the love of God and just began to weep.

I thought that it was just one of those things, profound but passing.  It was not.  That psalm lingered in my heart and I found myself rereading it time and time again.  Here are a few of the verses that slapped me with the love of God:

He does not punish us for all our sins, he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.  For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.  He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.  The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.  For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Psalm 103:10-14

I must say that the line, "He remembers we are only dust," is the one that moved me to tears.

Not long after, I was reading Lamentations.  I don't even remember why.  It may be because a verse came to mind and I went looking for it.  Whatever the reason, I know that the Lord led me there because I had forgotten this passage:

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.  I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.  Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.  Lamentations 3:19-23 

 Now, I am not suffering nor am I homeless, but I have been.  I remember bitter despair and hopelessness.  God is truly faithful and I have made it through because of His goodness.  His mercies are truly new every morning.  Great is His faithfulness!

Then, there was this song.  It has been out for a little while and I'm sure I heard it before, even at church but, it just wrecked me when I heard it recently.  It is called "The Goodness of God."  Here are a couple of lines:

I love you, Lord.  Oh your mercy never fails me. 

All my days, I've been held in Your hands.

From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head,

Oh, I will sing of the Goodness of God.

Cause all my life you have been faithful,

And all my life You have been so, so good.

With every breath that I am able,

Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.

 Of course, I can't leave out the mentioning the visiting preacher, Ivan Tait.  He was preaching on being an overcomer by using the Word of God.  How he came to the part where he said, "Your value was established by the price God was willing to pay for you," is beyond me, but he said it, and expounded on it for a minute.

Think about that!  God established your value by the price He was willing to pay for you.  And what did He pay?  He gave His only begotten son, God in the flesh, as a price to redeem you and me.  How can we doubt His love?  He proved it on the cross.  

The cross was not some abstract idea or metaphor.  It is a historical event.  A man named Jesus of Nazareth was given over to the Romans, was tortured, and killed by the gruesome means of crucifixion.  No one, secular or otherwise, disputes that.  I have other posts that speak to the fact that He was God in the flesh.  That isn't my point today.  My point today is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

I'm so thankful that God has given me this revelation of His love.  I know now that is it His love that demands justice, and His mercy that requires recompense; but it is always love first.

There are two things we should remember.  The first is:

Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  It does not demand its own way.  It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The second is:

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 

 Now, let me rewrite the first verse with the second in mind:

God is patient and kind.  God is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  God does not demand His own way.  He is not irritable and He keeps no record of being wronged.  God does not rejoice about injustice but he rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  God never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

That is the true God and the one we should remember in our trials.