I LOVE how very thorough Holy Spirit is when He teaches me something! I am sure that you, too, have experienced seeing something in the Word of God, and then seeing it everywhere you look! Today I was meditating on some things concerning God's love, provision and protection for HIS people! Then I read Psalm 106 from today's Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan, further embedding this TRUTH into my soul! Look at verses 1-3:
1 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! 2 Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]? 3 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who observe justice [treating others fairly] and who do right and are in right standing with God at all times.
He IS so very GOOD to us! In fact, look at Psalm 118:1:
1 O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!
"Good" here is the Hebrew word "towb", which means: good, pleasant, agreeable, excellent, rich, happy, prosperous, valuable, welfare, bounty. 1 John 1:5 tells us this:
5 And this is the message [the message of promise] which we have heard from Him and now are reporting to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way].
Now look at James 1:17:
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
See how very good He is to us? NEVER is HE the author of anything bad, evil, weak, or destructive in the lives of HIS people! I cannot say the same thing, though, for those who come against God's people! There is a reason that Jesus told us to pray for those who come against us! Matthew 5:44:
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you
THIS is the reason! Romans 12:19:
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for [God’s] wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (requite), says the Lord.
Now look at Psalm 106:9-11:
9 He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths as through a pastureland. 10 And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the [Egyptian] enemy. 11 And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.
I am NOT going to get into a doctrinal debate about what God does or does not do to the ungodly. We KNOW that He has already provided for EVERY person to receive Jesus as Lord and personal Savior and to become a child of God! IF they choose to reject His Gift, then they are completely on their own! There have been people in my life who have come against me in some vile ways. A few of these people died young and violent deaths. I am SO glad that I was taught to pray for these! I KNOW that they had every opportunity to be born again! I truly hope that they were! THAT is why I will NEVER hold anything against anyone! It is NOT hard for me to walk in love and forgiveness. God is MY Daddy and HE is watching over me! AMEN! Count on His protection, provision and safety as you face tests, trials and situations in your life. HE will NEVER fail you! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "God Is Able":
Shalom in Him!
