Goodness

Psalm 83: 16- 18

Fill their faces with dishonor, that they may seek Your name, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever, and let them be humiliated and perish, that they may know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

This is a very human sentiment. In fact, I would wager most of us have had this same feeling at one time or another. Sometimes we might feel these emotions towards our foes. At other times, perhaps, it is the thought we have towards the unsaved critics of our Lord. In either instance, it is a perfectly natural human reaction. It may even sound righteous. It is not, however, the evangelistic plan of our Father. Nor is it the way He deals with antagonists.

God said that His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55: 8) and this is one of the ways we see our differences. That is not to say, however, that our ways cannot mirror His. We must see His ways first, though, before we can model them. That is one of the ways that I pray the Word of the Day serves you, illuminating God’s thoughts and ways. As we peruse the Bible, or even the verses from the Word of the Day, we get to know Yahweh better because He is revealed in the pages of the book. The more we look at the scriptures the more we see how Father approaches situations.

Today’s passage brings to my mind the goodness of God. Though I might pray a sentiment like Asaph’s our Father would not react the same way. He is full of love and reacts from a position of love. He is chagrined by those who fail to include themselves in His love. He wants them to know peace, love and wholeness. Rather than shaming them forever, allowing them to be humiliated and to perish, He sent His son to save them. He sacrificed His son for the very people who wanted to obliterate Israel from the face of the earth and even from memory. Love is a crazy thing, isn’t it? It makes large demands, one of which is unfailing compassion.

I like this verse because it forces me to think about God’s approach to the world and His ultimate goodness. And, it is good to meditate on God’s goodness. The more we think about how God responds with goodness, the more we understand His position in all things. Meditating on His nature brings understanding at a very deep level. The more we meditate on how God thinks and acts, the more automatic those responses become in our lives. Our meditation on God plants the seeds of His ways in our hearts so that we begin to react as He does. That is the stuff of transformation. If you want to be like God, ponder His ways. Soon, those seeds will begin to produce a harvest and you will be more and more like Yahweh and living in the fullness of His peace.