Today’s Scrip-Bit   11 June 2023 Psalm 27:13.

11 Jun 2023 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 27:13.        I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 

And the week has come full circle; it’s Sunday again, that beautiful day when Christ’s church gathers to give Him much thanks, praise, worship, glory and exaltation! And all Christ’s people said a loud and grateful ‘Praise the Lord!’ And to open today’s proceedings, we’ll blast off with the great favourite of Contemporary Christian Music, ‘The Goodness of God.’ 

It touched me when I heard it earlier in the week and immediately decided that we would sing it this Sunday. There’s something about it that just touches you. It’s a song of praise to our good and faithful Lord, written by Jenn Johnson, who sings it with the Bethel Church group. 

And what is the spiritual meaning of goodness you ask? This commentary tells us: ‘Goodness is action; it’s not something we do only for the sake of being virtuous. When we strive to be “good” only for our own benefit, it is not truly goodness that we possess. In Greek, the word goodness, “agathosune,” means “an uprightness of heart and life” 

And how do we experience the goodness of God? This other commentary explains it thus:  ‘It’s through the promises of God’s Word that we partake of His nature—a nature that is peace, abundance, healing, victory, guidance and protection. His promises are a pipeline that connects us with His nature. And His promises are exceedingly great and precious (2 Peter 1:3-4).’ 

But enough talk, let’s offer up our sweet sacrifices of praise in scintillating riddim and glorious voices, in an up-tempo rendition of the song. Singing: ‘I LOVE You Lord Oh Your mercy never fails me And all my days I’ve been held in Your hands From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head down, Oh I will sing of the goodness of God (Chorus: 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.) 

I LOVE your voice. You have led me through the fire. In my darkest night, you were close like no other. I’ve known you as a Father, I’ve known you as a friend, Oh I have lived, in the goodness of God. (Chorus: Yeahhh! And all my life You have been faithful…I will sing of the goodness of God) Yeah, yeah, it’s so good! Your goodness is running after, It’s running after me. Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now, I give you everything, cause your goodness is running after, It’s running after me. 

Oh cause Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. And 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’m going to sing, Oh I’m going to sing of the goodness of God. For all my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so good. 

Oh you lead me in glory…ever-faithful, you are my anchor in the wind and the waves… you are my provider…Oh yeah…and you lead me in glory by your spirit…you are my joy…my joy…every day…Oh shepherd of my soul…what a joy to know you…Oh, the joy of knowing you God…you’re everything to me…so wonderful…so wonderful in all your ways…in all your ways. That’s why I will always sing of your goodness Lord…always sing of your goodness Lord.’ 

Mama oh Mama! What heart-felt words and glorious sentiments! No wonder we want to sing of the goodness of our marvellous God! And the Lord Himself informed of His goodness when He descended in the cloud and stood with Moses on the mountain top, the second time He wrote the Ten Commandments. The Bible tells us: ‘And the Lord passed by before him (Moses), and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.’ (Ex. 34:6) 

Yes friends, the Lord described Himself to a T. All He said there is the gospel truth, and as such we need to follow His example if we’re to be His true followers. And how do we do that, how do we Christians show the goodness of God? Listen to this commentary: ‘We Choose Kindness. It means to show kindness and goodness to everyone you meet. It means Jesus recognized what we needed before we did. It also means that He wants us to be compassionate and understanding; to care for others with a pure spirit; and to realize that true life only comes through Christ.’ 

More gospel truth there my faithful brethren: true life only comes through Christ! If you don’t have Him leading and guiding you then you will never ever attain that wonderful feeling of true living. And all through the Good Library, especially in the Psalms, you can find oodles of references to the goodness of our great God. So let’s check out a few for our enlightenment. (smile) Listen to these words from Psalm 107: ‘Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness (LOVING-kindness), and for his wonderful works to the children of men. For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.’ (Ps. 107:8-9) 

Then there’s this from Psalm 31, some verses aptly titled ‘God’s Goodness.’ ‘Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear (reverence) thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence (secret place)  from the pride (plots) of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion (shelter) from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.’ (Ps. 31:19-21) 

Now what can be better than that eh my people? Only perhaps these words of Bruh David from Psalm 27. ‘I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait (in faith) on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart, (wait (in faith), I say, on the Lord.’ (Ps. 27: 13-14) 

Ah friends, life would certainly be even more difficult than it already is, if we hadn’t planned on seeing the goodness of God down here. And we’ll end with some words of Jesus on the subject, when He made those famous statements about asking and receiving, (Matt:7:7-12) amongst them this one: ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?’ (Matt. 7:11) Now that’s a question on which we need to spend some pondering time today, so that we can get it right. Much LOVE!

…God’s goodness stems from…His great LOVE for us… 

 Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ       

Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 November 2020 Psalm 107:8.

01 Nov 2020 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 107:8.     ​Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

One more time, one more time, let’s do it one more time fellow saints of Christ! I mean, let’s get together on the Lord’s Day, by whatever means possible, and worship and praise His Holy Name as He desires of us on at least one day of every week! Yes my people, that is one of the duties for which we were created, along with the awesome blessing of having a close and personal relationship with the wise and wonderful Deity who created us. Glory to His blessed name, for there is no other supposed god who desires such a relationship with their followers as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob desires with His. 

So let’s cut out the talk and get down to some serious worship nuh. (smile) And today’s song is one I sent to some of you by WhatsApp this week, titled ‘The Goodness of God’ sung by Jenn Johnson with the Bethel church. So some of you know it. (smile) And after listening to several versions of the song, all of them decent enough in their own right, I still had to come back to the Jenn Johnson version because it had a particular soulful and yet rocking sound that seemed rather appropriate for the song. 

So without further ado, let’s raise our voices in sacrificial praise, offering up heartfelt and true emotion and sentiments to our majestic, magnanimous and magnificent God, Jehovah. In slow, soulful harmony to start, then breaking into a rocking, raunchy riddim at the chorus. ‘I love You Lord Oh Your mercy never fails me And all my days I’ve been held in Your hands From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head down, Oh I will sing of the goodness of God (Chorus: 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.) 

I LOVE Your voice. You have led me through the fire. In my darkest night, You were close like no other. I’ve known You as a Father, I’ve known You as a friend, Oh I have lived, in the goodness of God. (Chorus: Yeahhh! And all my life You have been faithful…I will sing of the goodness of God) Yeah, yeah, it’s so good! Your goodness is running after, It’s running after me. Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now, I give You everything, cause Your goodness is running after, It’s running after me. Ohhh, cause Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. 

With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now, I give You everything, cause Your goodness is running after, It’s running after me. Your goodness is running after, it keeps running after me. And 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’m going to sing, Oh I’m going to sing of the goodness of God. For all my life You have been faithful, all my life You have been so good. 

Oh You lead me in glory…ever-faithful, You are my anchor in the wind and the waves… You are my provider…Oh yeah…and You lead me in glory by your spirit…You are my joy…my joy…every day…Oh shepherd of my soul…what a joy to know You…Oh, the joy of knowing You God…You’re everything to me…so wonderful…so wonderful in all your ways…in all your ways. That’s why I will always sing of Your goodness Lord…I will always sing of Your goodness Lord.’ 

Mama Mia! What a great paean (song of praise, worship, triumph, thanksgiving) to Almighty God, in which our voices were gloriously united! It couldn’t get any better than that my brethren, because the sentiments were all true! And today all we’re going to do is look at some scripture that gloriously display God’s wonderful works to the children of men! And that’s the superscript of Psalm 107, from which most, if not all of our scripture will come. Hear how the psalmist begins nuh: ‘O Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.’ (Ps. 107:1-2) 

The psalmist there was talking about the nation of Israel whom the Lord took out of bondage from Egypt, and because of their disobedience, they wandered in the wilderness, lost and without a shepherd, hungry and thirsty and faint. (Ps. 107:3-4) But eventually they smartened up, and ‘Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.’ (Ps. 107:6-7) 

Yeh friends, that’s the difference between obedience to God and disobedience. If we want to be left alone, He will leave us alone to do our own thing, but when we decide to call on Him in true and sincere repentance, He comes running to our aid. As the psalmist further states: ‘Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!’ (Ps. 107:8) What a glorious observation! Why, you ask? Hear the psalmist’s answer. ‘For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.’ (Ps. 107:9) 

Ah mih bredrin, when we come to God in repentance and submission, He looks after us. But when we turn away from Him, rebel against Him, He allows the evil one to cause us to ‘sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron (being prisoners);’ (Ps. 107:10) And when we wake up and cry out to Him again in times of trouble, He comes running and saves us out of our distresses. He brings us out of the darkness and the shadow of death, and breaks our bands in sunder (breaks our chains in pieces). And for that we should again praise Him for His goodness as our Bit says. (Ps. 107:11-16) 

Oh my people, we are so near and dear to the God of our forefathers that He can’t deny us when we turn to Him in true surrender. Look at what He did for the Israelites…and look at what He did for us by sending His Only Son Jesus to be sacrificed for our sins. That speaks of a golden heart of LOVE in the Being we call our God. And that’s why the psalmist’s cry makes undeniable sense: ‘Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing (joyful singing).’ (Ps. 107:21-22) 

And that’s what we’ve just done: declared His works with joyful singing! Glory be precious people! And we can go on through Psalm 107 and the rest of the Good Book and find innumerable reasons for praising God for His goodness. But time and space are against us. So let’s remember all those times that He’s bailed us out nuh, both individually and collectively, and stay under His protective umbrella, because that’s the ONLY safe place in this evil world! Much LOVE!

…the Lord is good…ALL THE TIME… because that’s His nature…