Psalm 136:1-3 says:
1O GIVE thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.2O give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.3O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever
The commandment is to give thanks to the LORD (Jehovah - the Eternal, self-existing One) BECAUSE He IS Good! ALL good! He IS the GOD of all gods! Whether they are called allah, buddha, krishna, a cow, a stump, an idol or anything that some people bow down to, HE is the GOD of ALL of those! AMEN! Then we see that He IS the Lord of all the "little" lords, all those who are in positions of authority over others. Then in the rest of the Psalm we see listed many of the things that God has done for us. I liken this to the "acts" of God that the children of Israel knew, while Moses knew His "ways" - the "checed" - His favor, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, that endures FOREVER! That's WHO HE is! I LOVE this Psalm!
I have always used 2 Corinthians 9 when teaching on giving at the Spoken Word Church. There are so many Godly principles laid out here. In verse 6 we read:
6[Remember] this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously [that blessings may come to someone] will also reap generously and with blessings.
The "measure" ( Luke 6:38) you use when you sow your seed is the same "measure" that God must use when He pours the blessings back into your life! This also brings to mind Galatians 6:7 that speaks of sowing and reaping. This is God's plan, after the tithe, to get us in position for Him to bless us! Verse 7 tells us what God thinks of a giver like that:
7Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, "prompt to do it") giver [whose heart is in his giving].
What is God's response to that kind of giving? Read verses 8 & 10:
8And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].
10And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity].
God LOVES a giver because HE is the GIVER of ALL givers! Verse 15 reminds us of that!
15Now thanks be to God for His Gift, [precious] beyond telling [His indescribable, inexpressible, free Gift]!
Be THIS kind of giver and you will look just like Jesus here on Earth! AMEN!
We begin the book of Ruth today and the first verse reveals the root cause of the problems that had made Naomi's life very hard and bitter.
1IN THE days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons.
Do you remember that we talked about the time of the Judges as a time when there was "no King in the land"? Israel had turned their back on their TRUE King, the Lord himself. When they reaped the results of their hardness and rebellion they would cry out to God, eventually, and He would send ANOTHER deliverer for them. It kept going on and on and on like this. So this was the mindset when the famine hit. Did Elimelech have faith in God that he could survive in any situation? NO! He left and went into a foreign land and verse 2 says they continued there!
2The man's name was Elimelech and his wife's name was Naomi and his two sons were named Mahlon [invalid] and Chilion [pining]; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. They went to the country of Moab and continued there.
Then he dies and she is left with the 2 sons. Instead of returning to their own land (God's country!) they still continued there and even took wives of the heathen nation, something else that was against their Law. It's no wonder that life was so hard for them! When Naomi had the good sense to return, the blessings already began to flow when Ruth decided to go with her and make Naomi's God her God! She must have heard enough about the God of Israel to want to belong to Him! GOOD GIRL! We'll catch the rest of this story tomorrow! Don't you just LOVE the Word of God? AMEN!
Shalom in Him!
