Abundant Goodness
Psalm 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Here we have an Old Covenant believer who gets how wonderful God really is, and how generous and good God really is.
This person has not been a witness to the Son of God giving His life to make Him righteous. He has not been a witness to how Jesus took on the sin of the whole world and in exchange imputes the very righteousness of God to those who believe and yet this person gets that God is good!
Under the New Covenant the goodness and love of God are on display so much greater than anything Old Covenant people could have possibly known. I wonder what this Psalmist might have written had he known Jesus had come and died on the cross so that he could possess eternal life.
I wonder what measure of praise and thanksgiving might have flowed from the pen of that writer then. I marvel that a man under the law could write about such things with such enthusiasm.
I marvel that in this New Covenant in which we stand the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. You and I have been placed in Christ and that means that everything promised is now a yes and a so be it in our lives. God is for us! God is for you! You are crowned with favor!
Scripture says, “it is good that the heart be established with grace.” The heart needs to be established with grace. Grace means unmerited favor with God. Let me say it this way. It is good that the heart knows without a doubt the favor of God. Or how about? It is good when the heart does not waver or doubt in the least that the favor of God is unyieldingly present in this moment and always. If God is for me who can be against me.
This is one time I love how it was stated in the Message Bible
(Message) Hebrews 13:8 For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself. 9 Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.
Don’t let your heart be lured away from the goodness of God revealed in Christ for you. Don’t let yourself speak bad things to your soul just because circumstances don’t seem to be in your favor at the moment. Put your hope in God! God is for you!
I encourage you to speak the gospel of the New Covenant to your soul everyday so that you can retrain your thinking to be in step with what Christ has accomplished and be energized to offer thanks unto God regularly for the amazing wonderful God that He is towards you, and His abundant goodness all the time.
