“Experience The Goodness Of God”
Psalm 34:8-18
David P. Nolte
We all want to experience good things in life: good health; good relationships; good reputations; good jobs; good food; good times.
Philosophers have tried to define the “greatest good.” Epicurus believed that pleasure was the greatest good and that it came from minimizing desires. Plato said, “the greatest good for a man is to discuss virtue [excellence] every day.” Aristotle considered happiness the greatest good.
We may experience all that and more and miss the greatest of all good – the goodness of God.
What kind of people does God choose to bless with His goodness? What kind of people have lives opened to His goodness? Let’s check the Scripture:
“By experience you will see that the Lord is good; happy is the man who has faith in Him. Keep yourselves in the fear of the Lord, all you His saints; for those who do so will have no need of anything. The young lions are in need and have no food; but those who are looking to the Lord will have every good thing. Come, children, give attention to me; I will be your teacher in the fear of the Lord. What man has a love of life, and a desire that his days may be increased so that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from words of deceit. Be turned from evil, and do good; make a search for peace, desiring it with all your heart. The eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to take away the memory of them from the earth. The cry of the upright comes before the Lord, and He takes them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near the broken-hearted; He is the Savior of those whose spirits are crushed down.” Psalm 34:8-18 (BBE).
So, to experience, to taste and see, that God is good and is the greatest good consider that:
I. WE NEED TO BE PEOPLE OF FAITH:
A. “Happy is the man who has faith in Him.” The word for “faith” means, “to flee to Him for protection; to confide in Him; to have hope in Him; to make Him our refuge; and to trust Him.”
B. Faith:
1. Is not knowledge, but belief: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the sign that the things not seen are true. For by it our fathers had God's approval.” Hebrews 11:1-2 (BBE).
2. Is not an option: “And without faith it is not possible to be well-pleasing to Him, for it is necessary for anyone who comes to God to have the belief that God is, and that He is a rewarder of all those who make a serious search for Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (BBE).
3. Is not merely academic belief or agreement with truth: “You have the belief that God is one, and you do well: the evil spirits have the same belief, shaking with fear.” James 2:19 (BBE).
4. Faith is belief that trust and obeys.
5. Faith is something practical that we do, not just something we think about theoretically.
C. We need faith in
1. God’s word: that it is true and right.
2. God’s promises: that they hold fast and will be fulfilled.
3. God’s love: that it is everlasting.
4. God’s goodness: that it is satisfying and sufficient.
D. The song said, “Men of faith rise up and sing, of the great and glorious King.” Let us be men and women of faith that acts! Less than that is dead faith.
E. To illustrate dead faith, it is that kind of faith which would lead a man to take a bottle of medicine from his medicine cabinet. Looking at the instructions on it, he says, “I'm sure they're correct. I have all confidence in the source of the medicine. I know who wrote these directions. I believe everything about it. I know this will relieve my headache, if I just take it.” But he takes the medicine bottle and puts it back on the shelf. He doesn't lose his headache. It continues on. Yet he can say I believe that medicine. I believe all about that medicine. But still he won't take it. That's dead faith."
II. WE NEED TO BE PEOPLE OF TRUTH:
A. “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from words of deceit.” The word for “deceit’ means, “guise, falsehood, treachery.” All the antithesis of truth.
1. As the song said, “Rise up women of the truth, stand and sing to broken hearts.” Rise up all people of truth!
2. God loves truth and despises lies.
3. “Jesus said to the Jews who had faith in Him, ‘If you keep My word, then you are truly My disciples; And you will have knowledge of what is true, and that will make you free.’” John 8:31-32 (BBE).
a. Free from false teachings.
b. Free from anxiety.
c. Free from ignorance and superstition.
d. Free from guilt and shame.
B. Truth is to light as a lie is to darkness; truth is to God what a lie is to Satan.
C. We need the truth and we need to:
1. Believe the truth.
a. Practice a little Sanctified Skepticism about any “new revelations or visions.” Disbelieve what contradicts the Truth which is God’s Word.
b. Do not be swept away by strange doctrines that have no foundation in Scripture.
c. Some of the most blatant untruth has been published as Christian literature so don’t be naive and swallow everything claiming to be Christian
2. Speak the truth:
a. Do not make false statements to one another; because you have put away the old man with all his doings.” Colossians 3:9 (BBE).
b. The editor of a small—town newspaper grew tired of being called a liar, and announced that he would tell the truth in the future. The next issue contained the following item: "Married—Miss Sylvan Rhodes and James Collinsworth, last Saturday at the Baptist parsonage, by the Rev. J. Gordon. The bride is a very ordinary town girl, who doesn't know any more about cooking than a jackrabbit, and never helped her mother three days in her life. She is not a beauty by any means and has a gait like a duck. The groom is an up-to-date loafer. He has been living off the old folks at home all his life and is now worth shucks. It will be a hard life." There is such a thing as speaking the truth in love, however!
c. We may unknowingly speak an untruth – but immediately when we recognize the error we rectify it.
3. Live the truth:
a. Practice what you preach; walk what you talk; integrate promise and performance.
b. Practice Christian ethics and morality.
c. “I can't tell you how happy I am to learn that many members of your congregation are diligent in living out the Truth, exactly as commanded by the Father.” 2 John 1:4 (MSG).
D. We expect truth in advertising; truth from our doctor; truth from our spouse; truth from our children; truth from our government (well, that one is far-fetched). But we don’t want to be the victim of untruth.
E. A minister noticed a group of boys and girls standing around a small stray dog. "What are you doing, kids?" "Telling lies," said one of the boys. "The one who tells the biggest lie gets the dog." "Why, when I was your age," the shocked minister said, "I never ever thought of telling a lie." The boys looked at one another, a little crestfallen. Finally one of them shrugged and said, "I guess he wins the dog."
III. WE NEED TO BE PEOPLE OF BROKENNESS:
A. “The cry of the upright comes before the Lord, and He takes them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near the broken-hearted; He is the Savior of those whose spirits are crushed down.” As the song said, “Who can know the healing power of our awesome King of love?” And “Rise up Church with broken wings, fill this place with songs again Of our God who reigns on high, by His grace again we’ll fly.”
B. David is not referring to a heart broken or a spirit crushed by a failed romance – though He does care even for that.
C. I submit that when we experience brokenness of the following sort, He is near and He saves. What brokenness does God use to show His goodness?
1. The brokenness of sin and guilt. After his adultery and murder in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah, David wrote, “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD;’ And You forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 32:3-5 (NASB).
2. The brokenness of humiliation and shame. We may have been conceited and smug and then came to pass what Solomon said, “First pride, then the crash. the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.” Proverbs 16:18 (MSG).
3. The brokenness of a stubborn will. Consider Saul of Tarsus
a. Blasphemed the name of Jesus
b. Bound for Damascus to persecute believers
c. Blinded by a heavenly vision of Jesus.
d. Baptized by Ananias.
e. Broken stubborn will yielded to Jesus.
f. Became the Apostle to the gentiles.
` g. Beheaded at Rome
D. Have you experienced the brokenness of sin under God’s chastening hand? Have you suffered the brokenness of pride through being humiliated? Have you known the brokenness of your will by trying unsuccessfully to evade God?
E. God is ready, willing and able to rebuild broken people. It’s one of His specialties. No matter how sin or failure or shame has broken you, the Lord will pick up every broken piece and mold them into something new and wonderful. He will give you healing and then cause you to live again.
It’s like the story of Jin who wanted to attend a church, but she was scared to try and find one on her own. Yet, one day, a church flyer appeared in her mailbox. Soon she was attending the Sunday worship for teenagers. Jin was baptized a year later after confessing her faith during 9th grade. She said, “I grew up in God’s love as I prayed together with my friends for direction in our lives.”
In the midst or temptations and concerns, Jin lost her way with God once she started working. She got married, started a family, dealt with sickness and divorce before realizing her own weakness. After going through a long period of brokenness, she said, “I learned something more important: I could return to God’s great love that had waited so long to welcome me back.”
Jin’s family has also come to know Christ as a result of her faith. Her mother, who was once a Buddhist, was saved by Christ and her father was baptized at his bedside a week before he passed away. Her two sons also enjoy serving at church.
Jin testified, “Although we are still immature in our faith, we hope to embrace God’s plan for our lives, as we experience His great love that accepts us just as we are.”
God uses broken things. And sometimes He even breaks things so they are useable! Has sin broken you? Has shame broken you? Has a stubborn will broken you?
“The Lord is near the broken-hearted; He is the Savior of those whose spirits are crushed down.”
The sacrifice God desires is a broken spirit. He will not reject a broken and repentant heart. Psalm 51:17 (NLT).
Bring that broken sacrifice just as you are, not as you ought to be or want to be but as you are–broken, wounded, weary. He’ll take that brokenness and make it whole!
