The Goodness of God Revealed // When God Speaks, Part 3

Christianityworks Official Podcast

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that God is good, when life simply isn’t. In fact, sometimes it’s downright impossible. That’s why God is revealing His goodness every moment of every day, through His Word.

God is Good

So life is going along ok I guess, with its ups and downs, but something doesn’t quite feel right. You’re not completely happy with the way things are going, and that has a way of grinding away at you. The burdens become heavier, the longer you carry them. The spark you once had deep inside seems to have disappeared, and when you’re in the middle of all that, your perception of who God is, how He acts, is incredibly important because it’ll shape your expectation of His involvement in your life at that moment. Is God someone who’s going to graciously step in to comfort you or is He distant, uninvolved? What are you expecting of God?

Sadly too many people don’t have a right expectation, a good expectation, because instead of spending some precious time in God’s Word every day, they’re too busy, it would seem. What we need in those difficult times is a way back into the comforting arms of God. Would you agree? So, what is that way back? How do we experience the comfort of God?

I don’t know quite where you’re at in life at the moment, but we all need God’s comfort (God’s presence) from time to time, so let’s take a look at what God has to say about the way back. Psalm 119:49-52:

Remember Your Word to Your servant, in which You have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life. The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from Your Law. When I think of Your rules from old, I take comfort, o LORD.

Now all that seems a bit strange. I take comfort when I think of Your rules from old. Really? Do you? Rules. What’s the Psalmist actually saying to God, and more importantly, what’s God saying to you and me here today?

Well, back then, they didn’t have the whole Bible. They only had the first five books – the books of the Law, as they were known; the rules, if you will: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, although they’re much more than just rules. They’re the story of what God’s done in creation, in leading His people out of slavery, and taking them to the promised land. They’re the story of God’s love, and His faithfulness to those whom He loves.

This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life, writes the Psalmist. Where does he get his comfort from? From meditating on God’s Word; from reading God’s promises; from remembering the mighty things that God’s already done; from seeing who God is through what He says and more importantly, what He does for His people when they’re afflicted. You see, that’s the way back to God’s comfort.

When we’re caught up in the doom and gloom that sometimes envelops our lives, the last thing we expect of God is that He’d be gracious, full of grace that He is ready to pour out onto us. Oh, maybe you know the theory, "My grace is sufficient for you." Right? but knowing that in your heart, expecting that of God, experiencing that, that’s a whole another thing.

But today I believe with all my heart (in fact, I know with all my heart) that God wants you to become someone who experiences His grace every moment of every day, for the rest of your life. Is that something that you’d like to receive? Well, I can’t give it to you, but God can, through His Spirit and His Word. Psalm 119:55-58:

I remember Your name in the night, o LORD, and keep Your Law. This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts. The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep Your Word. I entreat Your favour with all my heart; be gracious to me, according to Your promise.

You see, the question is, what is it that would give you confidence (the complete and absolute confidence) in the graciousness of God towards you? How can the light of His grace shine in your heart when there’s darkness all around? And make no mistake about it; the Psalmist is writing those words there, going through some terribly dark times:

I remember Your name in the night, o LORD.

Isn’t night-time always the worst time? Things churn around in your mind, and the fear sets in; the cold sweats ... I’ve been there and I’m sure you have too. It’s in those dark hours that we need to remember the name of the LORD; to experience His blessings falling on us; to know that no matter what we may lose in this world, the LORD is our portion.

From where does the Psalmist draw his confidence? From knowing God’s precepts and keeping them. You have to know God’s Word to live God’s Word, and you know what it’s like. When you’ve been through a difficult situation but you’ve handled it in a Godly way – a loving way, a humble way, a way that honours God, it may have been hard. It may have hurt a lot, but doing good in the midst of bad puts a quiet confidence in your heart. Not an arrogant self-righteousness; that’s not what the Psalmist is talking about:

This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts.

In the darkest of a night, knowing that you’ve lived through those difficulties and challenges in a way that honours God is a huge blessing, and that gives you the confidence to entreat God in those dark hours that He would be gracious to you, according to His promises. It’s an incredibly powerful truth that our behaviour affects our thinking, and our thinking affects our behaviour. The two are inexorably linked. Without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest (I mean the single-biggest) change-agent for good in my life over the last twenty-one-and-a-half years, since I gave my life to Jesus, has been reading God’s Word almost every day of my life: Not every day, but most days, and not just reading His Word, but reflecting on it; receiving it, and then responding to it.

Think about it. We all want a better life. Right? Self-improvement is a multi-billion-dollar industry worldwide. There are business gurus; success gurus; life gurus; health gurus, all sprouting their stuff, all claiming to have the answers. If only we’ll buy their book; attend their conference; sign up for their programme online. People are lapping this stuff up, and paying through the nose for it.

Peter Drucker, the man who years ago invented the term the knowledge worker ... He once said the reason people use the word guru is that charlatan is often too long for the headlines. See, these are false prophets. It’s not that some of them don’t have some clever things to say, but they don’t have the answers for life. They don’t have the truth. They don’t have the wisdom of God. God on the other hand is ready, willing and able to speak His truth and His wisdom in abundance into your life, but are we listening? Psalm 119:59-60:

When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to Your testimonies; I hasten and I do not delay to keep Your commandments.

The man writing this Psalm is praying to God, and what he’s saying is, "You know, LORD, I’ve been thinking about this. I spend a lot of time in Your Word. I think about my ways: How I think; how I speak; how I behave, and when I bring those two things together, Your Word and my ways, I can’t help it. I turn my feet to walk in Your testimonies; in Your Word; in Your ways. I hasten; I don’t delay. As surely as night follows day, I end up keeping Your commandments."

What’s happening there is that this man is reading God’s Word; reflecting on it; thinking about it; receiving it, and then responding to it with his life. That is how powerful Godly change happens in our lives: Read, reflect, receive, respond. Let me say that again. Read God’s Word, reflect on it; think about what God’s saying to you and compare it to how you’re living life at the moment, receive that Spirit-breathed Word into your heart, and respond to it with your life. No one else can do that for you. No one else can bring that sort of powerful change to your life.

God has a Plan for Your Life

Let me be perfectly honest with you. I hate pain: Physical pain, emotional pain ... I mean, I just hate it. I’m sure you do too. It’s simply our natural response to pain, because pain is an indication that something’s wrong. If you start getting chest pains, you’d better call an ambulance quick. If you’re out running and all of a sudden, a sharp pain shoots through your hamstring, you’d better stop, quick. We’re programmed to avoid pain because pain says there’s something wrong. Right? But sometimes, pain happens. Hey, there’s a great bumper sticker for your car. Pain happens and sometimes that pain, that trial, that difficult relationship, that knife in your back, that rejection, is part of God’s plan to bless you. ‘What? Are you crazy?’ No, that’s just what my Bible tells me. Have a listen. Psalm 119:69-71:

The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart, I keep Your precepts. Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in Your Law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

What’s the matter with this guy? It is good for me that I was afflicted? Really? But how many times have you heard people say, "I only really grow as a person when I go through difficult times?" It’s one of those truisms that gets tossed around by people who aren’t at the moment travelling through difficult times, but what about when you’re in the middle of something? Like, as in this case, the insolent smearing you with lies. It’s not funny; it’s so unfair, and what we want to do is whatever we can to stop the pain now! "I’ll smear them with lies; that’ll do it. I’ll show him. I’ll sort him out. I’ll fix him." You know the sort of thing. Don’t get angry; get even. Right? But that’s not God’s way. Jesus said crazy things like turn the other cheek; go the extra mile, and when it came to people trumping up charges against Him, He stood there quietly (not defending Himself) and ended up being crucified as a result.

Sometimes God uses those terrible things to change our hearts; to teach us in the difficult times, so that we might learn His ways in our experience. Think of it as on-the-job training. It’s the best sort. It’s not a theory lesson that happens in a classroom, but a practical that happens out in the real world. Hebrews 5:8:

Although he was a son, Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered.

Hebrews 12:6, 11:

God disciplines those whom He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

None of us like being told what to do. We all have that, ‘I did it my way’ streak in us. I think the second word that most children learn after mum, mum, mum is no, no, no. Anyone who’s had kids will remember the terrible twos, not to mention those challenging teenage years; that streak of rebellion; that desire to do it my way starts early-on. It’s almost as though we’re programmed that way. King David said it like this, when he was talking to God in repentance for having committed adultery and murder. Psalm 51:5:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Theologians call it the doctrine of original sin, this idea that we’re born with a stain of sin on our very DNA. And so, no matter what stage we’re at in life, there’s this rebellious streak that raises its ugly head from time to time, in all of us. How many times have you looked back on something that you did your way, only to realise the world of pain that it ended up dumping on your head?

So often we do things out of a wrong heart; for the wrong reasons; with the wrong motivations, and there are always, always consequences to that. When we were teenagers, we used to do stupid things because we were teenagers, and we acted out of our immaturity. Well, fair enough, but at some point, we’re meant to grow up. At some point, we’re meant to enter that journey of maturity. That’s the place the Psalmist was at when he wrote these words. Psalm 119:72, 127:

The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold, above fine gold.

So let me ask you: Are God’s ways the right ways? Is God’s wisdom the right wisdom? Well, obviously, so what do you desire more; God’s way, or your way? The good fruit that God’s ways bring, or the painful consequences that your own ways bring crashing down on your life? That’s why God disciplines us when we go wandering off on our own way. That’s why He lets us suffer the consequences of our sin when we turn our backs on Him; because He loves us.

As a father, when my children were young, one of the things that I was always keen to do was to let them suffer the consequences of their own mistake. "Oh, Dad, I’m running late for school. Can you drive me?" "No." "But I’ll get in trouble!" "Good." They’ve learnt responsibility pretty quickly that way.

The point that the Psalmist is making here is that God’s ways are so good because when we live them, they yield blessing rather than pain. His commandments are so much better than silver or gold; so much better.

As you look back on your life, no doubt, you can see a string of missed opportunities. I certainly can. Times when we have the opportunity to do right; to honour God; to bless other people, and we just fail to grab those opportunities with both hands. Instead, sadly all too often, we’re prone to insolence. That’s a strong word, but when you realise who God is, when you have a right fear of God in your heart, you realise that it’s the right word. Insolence. A flagrant disregard for God’s will and God’s ways; a disrespect so deep of a God who loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us.

I shake my head at some of the bad decisions that I’ve made in the past, and you know something? With all my heart, I don’t want to go there again. That insolence brings shame to our hearts. It brings regret to our hearts. It robs us of joy and peace, of the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. With all my heart, I want to make good decisions – the best decisions; decisions today, the next day, the day after that, that honour God and bring glory to Him. But I know (and I suspect you know this about yourself too) that left to my own devices, I’m more likely than not to botch it up again. Psalm 119:78-80:

Let the insolent be put to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehood; as for me, I will meditate on Your precepts. Let those who fear You turn to me, that they may know Your testimonies. May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.

I’ve watched my behaviour carefully over the years. On the days when I’ve spent unhurried, precious time with God in the morning, with the door closed and the book open, it’s been so much easier to honour Him. Whilst on those days when I didn’t make that time, I was far more prone to making bad decisions. How about you? Have you noticed that about yourself too?

We have a choice, you and I: A choice between living a blameless life honouring God, or a life of shame as we live out the consequences of our sin. It’s a simple, clear choice, but to choose the right way, we need wisdom and we need power. Am I right? And that wisdom, that power, come over and over again in bucket-loads, in abundance, from God’s Word.

God doesn’t want you to be insolent and filled with shame. He wants you to know the joy and the peace that come from living the blameless life that He has planned for you.

Praying Through the Clouds

Sunshine is something that we naturally equate with blessing. When the sun’s shining, it casts a different light on our circumstances. I happen to live in the beautiful harbour city of Sydney in Australia, and when the sun’s shining, you’d have to say Sydney Harbour with the bridge and the opera house is absolutely stunning. Truly, one of the great sights anywhere in the world, but I always feel so sorry for tourists who travel halfway round the world to see it, only to arrive on a dull, wet, windy day. It’s just not the same when it isn’t bathed in that bright sunlight.

The same holds true in our lives. We want blessing to shine on us all the time, but just as with sunny weather, it seems to come and go without any great rhyme or reason. One moment the blessing is shining down upon us; the next minute, the clouds blow in and on those dull, overcast, gloomy days, life simply isn’t the same. So on those days, how do you lay hold of God’s blessing? Psalm 119:132-135:

Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your name. Keep steady my steps according to Your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me. Redeem me from man’s oppression, that I may keep Your precepts. Make Your face to shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.

This man knows God. He doesn’t just know about God; he knows God, because he’s praying into the very nature of God, relying on who God is:

Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your name.

He’s praying through the clouds and into the sunshine; into the very nature of God. Don’t you love that? Keep me steady, God. Keep me relying on Your promises. Don’t let sin get the better of me. Redeem me; save me from human oppression. Why? So that I can lie on the beach and bathe in the sun? No! So that I may keep Your precepts; so that I can live life according to Your Word; so that I can get on and be about Your business for Your glory.

Here is a man who is a man of God’s Word. That much is plain the moment you start reading Psalm 119, and let me tell you, it’s well worth a read in its entirety. And as he prays through the clouds, from the gloomy side to the bright side, he finishes by asking this of God: Make Your face to shine upon me, and teach me Your statutes. You see, the two are linked: God’s blessing, and God’s Word. In fact, they’re inseparable. Listen to me. God wants to bless you, and that blessing is ready and waiting in His Word.

Well, in the few moments that we have left together today, I just want to pray God’s blessing into your life. Are you ready?

Father God, You know all the things that we’re struggling with right at the moment. Thank You so much that You’re involved in our lives. Thank You so much that You care and thank You, thank You that You’ve given us Your Word, the Bible, breathed through Your Holy Spirit; preserved with incredible accuracy down through the ages, so that You can continue to speak to us here and now. LORD, some people today are just struggling to get into Your Word; to open their Bibles every day, and just receive what You have for them.

Well, LORD, I pray right now that You would pour Your Holy Spirit on each one of us. LORD, light a fire in our hearts; a burning desire to be close to You, I pray; a ravenous appetite to hear from You. Stretch us; unsettle us; make us hungry; make us thirsty for Your Word, and then fill us, LORD, to overflowing with Your Spirit and Your Word. Father, teach us Your precepts; Your ways; Your wisdom; Your goodness, and LORD, make Your face to shine upon us. This we pray up through the clouds, LORD, believing in Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Friend, my prayer for you is that your life will be completely turned upside-down as you receive God’s Word into your heart.