Psalms 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. The sixth verse of this chapter is a summary of the whole chapter. The conclusion is that, for sure, “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” and a promise that, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Malachi 3:6 For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. God’s promises are forever; for He is an eternal God. SURELY: The word “surely” implies assurance and insurance which David has of God’s goodness and mercy. Surely is used many times in the Bible to emphasize a definite truth. Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 18:18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? The Lord Jesus often used the words verily, verily when emphasizing an absolute statement or promise. John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Any time you accept a promise from someone, you are putting your trust in that person’s integrity. If a person can’t be trusted their promise is not reliable. A mortgager makes you sign a thousand papers because, in general, people cannot be trusted to repay what they have borrowed. The believer who trust’s in the promises of God does so in faith. A person who believes the Bible at all does so by faith. The only surety that we have that the Bible is true is that God is real and that His reputation makes Him reliable. He has never broken a promise, so we can trust His word and believe that He will do what He has said that He will do. David’s surety was based on his faith in God’s reputation of absolute truth. GOODNESS: There is much said in the Bible about God’s goodness. No other so-called god can claim goodness because the gods of the heathen are either dead men or dumb idols. But as for our God, Psalms 36:7 says, How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. It is God’s goodness that gives us life. The Bible tells us in Romans 2:4 that the goodness of God leads people to repentance. “Or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” God has been good to us all in one way of another. Take a look at the circumstances of some other people in the world. As bad as you may think that things are, they could be much worse. There is much persecution today against Christians all over the world which is nothing new. God’s people need not fear what man may do; for our citizenship is in a better county called heavenly. We must not take God’s goodness for granted because we deserve not any of it. The freedom and liberty that we enjoy in this country is a benefit and a blessing. However, He is the same Lord no matter where you find yourself in the world. E-mail, johnpruitt@frontiernet.net or message me on facebook.
