God is Good

DEVOTION

PSALMS

GOD IS GOOD

 Ps 25: 4-7

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.

4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.

8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. 12 Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. 13 He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. 14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. 15 My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. 18 Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. 19 See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me! 20 Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. 21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.

22 Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles!

NIV

Well, like we thought, we did not make it past the first stanza the day before, so let us continue on. Again, a question we have to ask our self, do we really want God to show us his ways? Do we truly want God to teach us his path? Are we willing to have him instruct us in his truth and guide us in the direction of our life. Hopefully the answer to those questions is yes. Sometime it seems easier to live life as we want and simply try to incorporate God into our way of life. But that is not how we should live. We have to set our course according to his ways. We have to seek his truth, his ways for our life. We have to be willing to listen to him and allow him to teach us his ways and then adapt to what he teaches us. When we read his word regarding all the attitudes and behaviors we are to rid ourselves of and how we are supposed to put off the old and cloth ourselves with the new, we have to hear those words and apply them. For he teaches us his ways. This means we change the way we interact with others. This means we change the way we think about others. This means we change the way we are, what we think, what we desire, what we do. If we say that our hope is in you Lord all day long then that should mean something. That should mean we are hoping in him to teach us, guide us as well as have mercy and compassion on us. God does not remember the sins of our youth. That may mean the younger years of our walk with him or before our walk began. When we were just babes in the Lord we had so much to learn, we did not do everything we should, and we did not give up all that we should have. But we learned his ways, he demonstrated patience with us, guiding us gently in his ways, showing us mercy and love. He continues this method with us even in our more mature years of our walk with him. Even now we know he does not remember our rebellious ways. When we ask him to forgive he not only forgives, but he does not bring it up to us again, or hold it against us, holding us accountable for our sin, for Jesus took it all, our past, present and future sin upon himself. This God did according to his great love for us. Just to think God loves us so much that he gave his only Son to suffer in the flesh and die so we could live, and not just live in this life, but in the eternal life. Jesus did not stay dead, he was raised from the dead, defeating death, so we too have the victory over death. Because of his resurrection we too will have resurrection. But resurrection not just to continue living here, but because Jesus ascended into heaven, we too will ascend into heaven to be at the right hand of God. How good is our God, How good is God. You are good, O Lord!