The Word For The Day - February 9, 2009

This was actually supposed to be yesterday’s Word but my day went all cockeyed and I just never got to finish it.

Yesterday morning, I was listening to a teaching on God’s goodness and the speaker mentioned Psalm 145, so I looked it up.  The scripture she referred to was Psalm 145:9 but I’m going to back it up a bit and start with verse 8 because I think they will both be a blessing together.

Psalm 145:8 & 9 - The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving-kindness. (v.9) The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works (the entirety of things created).  [Amplified Bible]

These scriptures have so much in them that it’s hard to know where to start.  First of all, the fact that God is gracious and full of compassion is so marvelous because I know that as often as I blow it, I definitely need His grace and His compassion on a daily basis.  Not that I blow it every day but there are always little things we do or don’t do that require God’s grace toward us for simple stupidity at times.  I’m also very glad that He is slow to anger since I need help in that area so that I don’t get angry so easily.  I am so glad God doesn’t get angry with me as easily as I seem to get angry at times.

Then, there’s the tail end of that first verse that God is abounding in mercy and loving-kindness.  Sometimes I’m amazed at how merciful God is not only to me but to the world in general.  After all, how would you like it if your own creation turned on you and hated you and denied your existence?  Look at all He has to put up with and how much He still loves us in spite of ourselves and in spite of how much it must hurt Him to see the devastation His own creation has put on itself.  Sometimes, I almost feel His teardrops from the pain we have all caused Him.  Yet He keeps loving us and showing us His mercy and loving kindness in so many ways.

In that second verse, it talks about how God is good to all.  I’ve heard people say that if God is good to all, why doesn’t He help the poor or people being hurt.  Well, He does but He works through people.  When God created man, He gave man dominion or authority over the earth.  He also gave them free will.  God does not want a bunch of robots that He dictates to.  He has the angels to instruct.  He wanted men (and women) to be made in His image and to act as He does and to love Him of their own free will.  He wanted a family not a dictatorship. 

When He gave mankind authority over the earth, it became their choice as to what would happen in this world.  God does not force His will on anyone.  That means that there are a lot of people out there who refuse to do things His way and think only of themselves and what they want and often times, what they want is to rule over other people.  So, they put other human beings into bondage in one way or the other.  God doesn’t want that but if He violates the authority of the human being, He breaks His own Word and His Word is sacred to Him. 

However, what God does do is speak to the hearts of other men to go in and free those who have been enslaved.  Unfortunately, a lot of times, the people He speaks to are too selfish or unwilling to do as He asks.  They make up all sorts of excuses not to obey.  Some say that surely God doesn’t want them to sacrifice and risk everything for someone they don’t even know but that’s exactly what He wants.  Even when God asks someone who is a Christian to simply speak to their neighbor about Him or help them, a lot of people will ignore Him for whatever reason.  Some think that that’s just not what God called them to do.  But I beg to differ.  The Bible says that Jesus commanded the believer to go into all the world and preach the good news of His sacrifice and ascension so that they may be saved.  We are all commanded to do this and making excuses doesn’t change it.

God also speaks to people to go into third world countries and feed those who are starving and a lot of ministries out there are doing just that but it takes money to do that and instead of people being willing to help, they start questioning the motives of a preacher.  I’m not saying any preacher is perfect but the Bible says we aren’t to stand in judgment of those He calls because they are His servants and He will deal with them if they do wrong and God will bless those who give even if that preacher does do wrong.

It’s just real easy to blame all of the heartache of the world on God instead of people taking responsibility for their part or their lack of part in the situation.  God doesn’t do anything in this world apart from the authority and dominion He gave to mankind.  It’s up to us to step out and help others who are in need.  We are God’s hands, eyes, ears, feet and heart.  He depends on each of us to do our part so that He can use our cooperation to help others throughout the world.

I challenge you today to find someone within your realm, whether it be in your neighborhood, at work, at the grocery store, or even on the internet, to reach out to and help today.  It may just be a kind word or gesture to help in a small way.  Or, you could really make someone’s day at the grocery store if you see they don’t have enough for a food item or if they are short by a couple of dollars and you have enough, hand it to them.  You will be their hero.

I don’t recommend handing money out to people on the street because you don’t know what they are spending it on.  However, you could buy a gift card from a fast food restaurant in the neighborhood the next time you’re in and give that to someone.  They still might trade it for something else but at least you won’t be making it easy to feed an addiction that is destroying their life.

Anyway, this is longer than I planned.  I pray that God empower you to prosper in every area of your life today.

Have a great day!