Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Psalm 96-102
Psalm 100:5
For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
His goodness, His mercy, His truth! Where would we be without these?
There are people in the world that frankly aggravate almost everyone around them. They are good. So intensely good that they disturb those close to them. They always say the right thing, do the right thing, and are right in their whole person. They kind of annoy others in their rightness. They are compliant, usually silent about wrongdoings toward them, but vocal about the need to do and be right, they are giving individuals even to their own hurt, they put themselves second to those around them, they are just “goody two shoes” type individuals. Why do they bother so? Because they are like their Lord God, they are filled with goodness.
Jesus was, and they crucified Him anyway. Paul was, and they cut off his head. Stephen was, as one of the first deacons, they stoned him to death. There are many who are filled with goodness, and almost all of them are persecuted to some degree. Our Father in Heaven knew this would be the case; this is why II Timothy 3:12 is included in the Bible. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Living godly is living rightly, divinely right. Those who do not will always persecute those that do. After all, they are easy targets in that they don’t fight back. But God always avenges His own, one way or another He makes things right.
Then there is His mercy. God is merciful. Ephesians 2:4 tells us, But God, who is rich in mercy… God never runs out of mercy. We do, and we frankly cannot understand how or why we should forgive others seven times seventy times. This is not natural, in our “survival of the fittest” kind of world we live in this is not the way we should be. But it is the way we should be, because it is the way our Father is. Consider this, if a person trusts Christ’s gospel for salvation at the age of twenty and passes away at eighty, they will have lived 21,900 days as a Christian. If they commit only one sin each day in all those 21,900 days that is 21,900 sins that they will ask the Lord to forgive. According to the totality of the Bible on the subject God will forgive all those sins. How? His mercy endureth forever. Forty-one times the Bible says so, and all in the Old Testament. Freely we received His mercy and freely we give His mercy.
His truth! The Bible, God’s Holy Word, the sacred text states clearly that the Lord’s truth endureth to all generations. Even unto today, His truth endures. It endures those that attempt to change it, water it down, explain it away, destroy it, mock it, ignore it, and belittle all who espouse it and promote it. But there it is. God’s truth endures. It is the unstoppable force and the unmovable object all wrapped up in one. It is such an enduring thing that Paul spoke of it saying, For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. II Corinthians 13:8 God’s truth, as given to all in His Word, is enduring. It continues on regardless of opposition. The best a child of God can do for the truth of God is to live it. Live it so others can see it in action. Be good, be merciful, be true.
Dr. William T. Howe
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