Is He Still Good To You?

Is He Still Good To You?

Deuteronomy 8:10-11 (NASB) "When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today;”

Deuteronomy 8:10-11(Good News Translation) “You will have all you want to eat, and you will give thanks to the Lord your God for the fertile land that he has given you. Make certain that you do not forget the Lord your God; do not fail to obey any of his laws that I am giving you today.”

Thought: Is He Still Good To You?

In 1978, a husband & wife recording duo by the names of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson; better known as Ashford & Simpson recorded a #1 hit called “Is It Still Good To You?”. If a person could get past the music and the smooth voices of the vocalist, to analyze the situation of which the duo was singing about; you’ll find that they called to the forefront an issue that is as common today as it was nearly thirty-nine years ago, when the song topped the R&B Chart. You will find that the couple is calling a time-out due to complacency. The song speaks of this once loving couple, that somewhere along the way lost that fire of their relationship that in earlier years ignited their courtship into marriage; somehow during the course of living; that dreamy eyed look they once had for one another was not longer there. There once was a time that an infectious smile would suddenly appeared on his or her face when someone just mentioned the other person’s name. Somewhere along the way, that radiant passion that once sparked into flames is only smoldering smoke, all but extinguished. Now they find themselves asking one other, “Is It Still Good To You?”

As we study the Book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses calling a time-out. This time-out is called with Canaan (The Promised Land) in viewing distance. Moses calls a time-out near the end of the 39th year of their forty-year wilderness journey. Moses’ intent is to challenge the Israelites to not become complacent in their worship to God.

Again, looking at our text, it reads: "When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today.”

This question posed to you on this Sunday morning “Is He Still Good To You” is in no way a question doubting the goodness of our God. For we know that God is the very essence of goodness.

• Mark 10:18 - Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

• James 1:17 (ASV) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.

• Romans 8:28 (KJV) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

In short, we’ve got a God who is good, A God who can only give good gift and a God who make sure at all things work together for your good.

But on today, it’s not the lyrics of a song that is posing the question nor is it Moses trying to preempt the complacency situation; but it is God, Himself, challenging us with the question “Is He Still Good to You?”

So why the question/challenge: I’m glad you asked: If this sanctuary were to represent the demographics of the United States of America (The Barna Group 2007 Research):

• Only 55% of us would pray daily to our good God. With 23% of us admitting that we never/seldom pray to our good God.

• 52% of us who make over $50K/yr. never/seldom pray to our good God.

• 65% of us with some from of higher education never/seldom pray to our good God.

• The average Christian spends only one minute/day in prayer to our good God.

• 57% of Americans only read about our good God four times/year.

When analyzed, I believe that the preemptive message of Moses found in the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy teaches us how to avoid complacency in our worship to our good God, thus avoiding God’s fair and just judgment.

The challenge for us is to preemptively call a time-out in an effort to avoid complacency in our relationship with our Good God; which introduces our first point.