God's Answer To The Stress Of The Future Series

Sermon Series: Sermons from Psalm 23

Sermon #7: God’s Answer to the Stress of Fearing the Future

Scripture Ref: Psalm 23:7

‘’Surely goodness & mercy shall follow me all the days of my life & I shall abide in the house of the LORD forever.’

Introduction:

This morning we bring this series of messages from Psalm 23 to a close.

We LOOK at GOD’S ANSWER to the STRESS of FEARING the FUTURE.

Many PEOPLE SPEND their ENTIRE LIVES WORRYING ABOUT their FUTURE.

They NEVER seem to ENJOY TODAY because they are ALWAYS WORRIED about TOMORROW.

WHY do we WORRY? BECAUSE we DO NOT KNOW WHAT the FUTURE is going to BRING our way.

Yet, DAVID as he BRINGS this WONDERFUL PSALM to a CLOSE declares that he is NOT WORRIED about ALL THE DAYS of his life that REMAIN.

‘Surely goodness & mercy shall follow me all the days of my life & I shall abide in the house of the LORD forever.’

DAVID testifies, ‘I have NO FEAR or NO ANXIETY or NO WORRY about TOMORROW. He is FACING the FUTURE with ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE. ‘surely, GOODNESS & MERCY shall FOLLOW ME ALL the DAYS of my life.’

WHERE do we RECEIVE such CONFIDENCE?

If we are a CHRISTIAN there are 3 REASONS WHY we DO NOT have to FEAR the FUTURE.

1} BECAUSE GOD IS WATCHING OVER ME:

‘Surely goodness shall follow me all the days of my life.’

BECAUSE OUR GOD is a GOOD GOD we can EXPECT HIS PROVISION & HIS PROTECTION in OUR LIVES.

We can EXPECT those things NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS to us GOD will CAUSE GOOD to come out of it.

WHATEVER HAPPENS it WILL ALWAYS BE for OUR OWN GOOD or for the GOOD of OTHER PEOPLE or for the GOOD of GOD’S OWN KINGDOM.

OUR GOD is a GOOD GOD. HE is OUR SOURCE of GOODNESS.

Psalm 145:20 ‘The LORD watches over all who love HIM..’

OUR GOD CARES ABOUT EVERY DETAIL of OUR LIVES

We have NO IDEA of WHAT the FUTURE HOLDS but we DO KNOW WHO HOLDS the FUTURE.

We also KNOW that GOD is IN CONTROL & that GOD LOVES US & WANTS to HELP US.

GOD says that HE will be a FATHER to us & HE will WATCH OVER US.

‘Surely goodness will follow me ..’

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Obviously DAVID had some DISAPPOINTMENTS in his life. Not EVERYTHING GOOD happened to him. He is NOT SAYING that ONLY EVERYTHING GOOD will HAPPEN to us. That’s NOT TRUE.

As I MENTIONED EARLIER in this series, BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE.

But DAVID is saying that GOODNESS will FOLLOW him.

GOOD THINGS will ALWAYS COME out of WHATEVER HAPPENS, even OUT of the BAD & the EVIL & the DIFFICULT.

GOD will INSURE that GOOD will COME OUT --- it will FOLLOW WHATEVER HAPPENS to DAVID.

That is a GREAT PROMISE that GOD has given to ALL BELIEVERS.

Romans 8:28 ‘We know that all things (whatever happens to us) work together for our good. IF we love GOD & are called according to HIS purpose.’

That is a PRECIOUS PROMISE but it is also a CONDITIONAL PROMISE.

ALL THINGS do NOT WORK TOGETHER for GOOD to EVERYBODY in the world.

THINGS WORK TOGETHER for BAD to those WHO DO NOT TRY to DO GOD’S WILL in their lives.

But if we are a BELIEVER & we are TRYING to DO GOD’S WILL in OUR LIVES then we have that PROMISE from the LORD.

NOT ALL THINGS are GOOD but they are WORKING TOGETHER for OUR GOOD.

That is WHAT it MEANS, GOODNESS will FOLLOW me. There is NO DIFFICULTY or DILEMMA or DEFEAT or DISASTER in the LIFE of a CHRISTIAN that GOD will NOT ULTIMATELY BRING GOOD OUT of it. EVENTUALLY GOD WILL BRING GOOD OUT of it, SOMEWAY & SOMEHOW.

OFTEN it is DIFFICULT to SEE GOD’S GOODNESS when we are GOING THROUGH a TRAGEDY. There are SOME TIMES when we DON’T FEEL that GOD is GOOD. We don’t FEEL the MERCY of GOD. SOMETIMES we FEEL like GOD is HIDDEN from us or that GOD is a MILLION MILES away.

Even JESUS on the CROSS cried out in GREAT AGONY, ‘MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY have YOU FORSAKEN ME?’

& WE GO THROUGH those EXPERIENCES SOMETIMES in OUR LIVES & we DO NOT KNOW WHY. We DO NOT SEE the GOODNESS in the SITUATION

It is ONLY LATER, LOOKING BACK, that we are ABLE to SEE GOD’S GOODNESS & HOW HE was WORKING for OUR GOOD.

So BY FAITH we have to ACCEPT this:

WHATEVER BAD THINGS HAPPEN to us GOD will BRING GOOD to COME out of them.

The APOSTLE PAUL was put FALSELY into PRISON. Was that GOOD?

NO. He was kept as a PRISONER in ROME. & while he was there he WROTE several of the BOOKS that we call the NEW TESTAMENT.