Goodness of the Lord
Jeremiah 31:12” You will be radiant [with joy] over the goodness of the LORD—For the grain, for the new wine, for the oil..”
Friends! Wish you all a blessed New Year - 2019! May the Hands of the Lord be upon you, your family and all that you do this year!
I am excited to open this New Year – 2019, with the message about the goodness of the Lord! If you have had a year of struggle, pain, agony, lack, betrayals, loneliness and emptiness, let me encourage you today and say that God will change the scenario from barrenness to goodness of the Lord. Say Amen. The scripture goes on to say that there would be an overflow of grain, new wine and oil…..whoa..that’s huge!
Thanksgiving: Actually God gave me this promise about few days back; however, I was praying over it and He reconfirmed it to me. Even though we may be in the valley of affliction, uncertainty or nothingness, we got to think about the goodness of God in the past and praise Him for it, the Bible says, O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.(1 Chronicles 16:34) One of my messages that I preached to our Abide School students in the month of December 2018 is ‘O "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Ps. 34:8) That scripture in telugu is awesome and I made them memorize so that they don’t forget it, why don’t you also do that? Several rounds of practices were done, dress rehearsals, audio recordings, script writing and enormous hard work was put for the Christmas program at Abide School, the entire team that includes teachers and our family were involved in it, to start with we performed in another school. This was herculean task of carting around 30 students along with teachers in an open van, out of the school fully dressed with make-up, the make-up for students alone took around 2 and half hours, would you believe? No easy job friend. Well, after the performance while the students were coming down, they were summoned to the Principal’s room of that school, appreciated and also each one of them were given a big imported chocolate , I was given a packet too. Ah! Do you see the goodness of God? He watches your efforts, your patience, your steadfastness, your humility during the process, your efficiency, your determination, your commitment, your meticulous hard work and God would surely reveal His goodness in a mighty way in His time. Trust and wait for His goodness! Believe me, He will never fail!
God is good: Look what David said, “You are good and do good..” (Psalm 119:68) Despite the trials and persecutions that David went through in his life, he emphatically said, ‘God is good’, we should also trust God’s motives, are you hearing me? Naively we look at every Tom dick and Harry and call them good, but we often fail to see the ugliness beneath their goodness, don’t we? When the parents of students gave me a big smile, big salute and spoke sweetly to me, my heart melted but those same people later spew poisonous words at me, I cannot explain the agony in words here, I have understood only ‘God is good’, He taught me tough lessons though, through all this pain. Psalm 107:1 says,
1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary.
The entire chapter talks about God’s goodness and mercy, please read it and be blessed.
God turns evil to good: Apostle Paul beautifully said, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Glory to Jesus!
You know what I am struggling in my spirit to write this portion; however, I am sure it would bless someone out there who is in the path of pain, for nearly two years we were going through severe financial struggles and I did wonder if we could handle the running of Abide School since we needed huge funds to cater food, books and other essentials for the children. Our kitty was zero. Our rent for the school building was pending and I had to request him for time, even paying the electricity bill was a struggle. I felt humiliated, disappointed and worried, when people would ask me, ‘ how is it all going?’ I would say, ‘super’ but inside I was shattered. Why? Why? During this time, my daughter had also resigned and joined our ministry, this period was eerie for her but we held on to the Lord in the midst of all this storm and we continued to pray. I would like to advice here that we should continue to pray and never give up. Paul said, (1 Thessalonians 5:17, 18) “pray without ceasing;18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.’ Why did Paul say, ‘in everything give thanks?’, because he knew the goodness of God. Give God a mighty hand of praise! Yes, there is something deep we would gain through all this pain: character, patience, humility, understanding and longsuffering. Did not Joseph come out unscathed after 13 years of being shut in the prison? Joseph looked at his brothers and said, “Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Isn’t that wonderful?
Goodness and mercy will follow you: Remember, God would never forget your good works, your fear for Him and your obedience, He is watching! Look what the Bible says, “How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You.” (Psalm 31:19) Wow! The book of Ruth with just 4 chapters oozes with the goodness of God though it opens with death. After the loss of her husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law, Ruth decides never to return back to her own home but stick with her mom-in-law Naomi, God watches those who have taken refuge in Him, are you listening? Because Ruth feared God, obeyed Him and followed Naomi to Bethlehem, God had reserved goodness and mercy for her, God took her to the field of Boaz to work; when Ruth found the goodness of Boaz towards her, she asked him,’why are you so good to me?’, Boaz replied, “May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge." (Ruth 2:12) Say Amen. Eventually Ruth married Boaz, glory to Jesus, stay faithful to God and trust Him wholeheartedly. If you make God as your shepherd then, “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow you all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:6.
Something GOOD is awaiting for each one of you! God is so good! God bless you!
BALA SAMSON
