Sept 2011

Monday, September 8, 2008

The goodness of God endureth continually...

Psalm 52

To the chief Musician, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.

52:1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.

52:2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp rasor, working deceitfully.

52:3 Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

52:4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

52:5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

52:6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:

52:7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.

52:8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

52:9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

This was the passage for our message on Sunday morning and it really spoke to my heart. There are lots of situations that have gone on recently that may make someone think "Why did God allow this to happen?" I think of Katie Bloom, Grace and Brandon's baby girl, and several other saddening and hurtful situations. It's easy for us to wonder why God allows bad things to happen to good people. This chapter reminded me, once again, that we MUST rest in the goodness of God. When we don't understand why something has happened, it is not because it occured in vain or or as a result of something that person did. We don't get it, because we cannot see the whole picture as God sees it. If we look at verse 1 of chapter 52, David immediately reminds us that God will endure. We can't doubt God in times of trouble. David was in the midst of trouble and had brought trouble on Ahimelech. It would have been easy to question God's intentions and demand an explanation. David trusted in God and understood that He would have the victory. David knew that God is just. In verse 5, David describes the justice that would be served on Doeg. As hard as it seems to be to want justice for those who don't seem to get it on this Earth, we have to remember that God is just and according to Numbers 32:23 "ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out."

So we come back to the question, why does God let bad things happen to good people? First, we have to know that we cannot see the whole picture and don't understand God's purpose. Second, James 1:3 tells us that "...the trying of your faith worketh patience." God gives us tests to measure and deepen our faith. We must remember, though, that "the goodness of God endureth continually."






This is another picture I took just before a storm.

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School has started again. In fact we're in the fourth week already! Time sure flies when you're busy! I'm teaching 1st grade for the fourth year. I love this age. They still have a short memory about unpleasant situations and can easily forgive me or their classmates. They learn and grow so much during this time. It is truely amazing! I have 15 students this year and 11 of them are below grade level, so I've certainly got my work cut out for me this year! I've also added the responsibility of having a PDS intern (student teacher) in my room for this entire year. I find myself to be much more careful how I react to students when I know that I'm an example to someone else. I think it will be a good year. I feel like I've grown a lot as a person over the last few months. I've learned so much about being in control. There are really so few things we have control over. It's of no use to fret about the things we can't control! But, we also have a responsibility to control the things we can. What an interesting scenario!

2 comments:

Danae said...

I have also been learning a lot about control and, basically how little I have! Some days are better than others in that department. I'm glad to have found your blog!

Danae

Jean said...

It's good to hear from you! I pray you are doing well! I'm also glad you found my blog...I hope it is encouraging to your soul... :-)