Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
The 23rd Psalm is about God being our shepherd and always being with us. It concludes with the verse that is printed above. I once read that we have two guardian angels, and they are called "goodness and mercy." There is probably more to the guardian angel concept than that, but it is nevertheless true that we who believe are accompanied by God's goodness and Mercy all of the time. What a comfort this is to me, and I hope it is a comfort that you have and that you enjoy & appreciate. This verse tells us that we are covered now and for all eternity. It is obvious life on this earth is nowhere near like life in heaven, but we have been visited from heaven and we have a little bit of it here and now. In this present life we are followed by God's goodness. Among other possible interpretations of this text, I think that it means that God is good to us. He doesn't always make life easy for us, but, even in the hard times, He is good to us. No matter what, we can know that God's goodness is with us 24/7. Then we are followed by God's mercy. Thank God for His mercy. If God practiced judgment without mercy, we would all be in great trouble. We can know that God loves us, even if we don't always measure up to His standards. This means that we have been forgiven by an eternal God who loves us. This love is shown through Jesus, who came to save us. Closely associated with mercy is grace. God's grace says to us that we don't deserve what God/Jesus does for us, but He does it anyway. In this life we have God's presence with us all of the time. He showers His goodness and mercy upon us all of the time. We don't always realize that, but it is true. But that is not all that is in store for us. Through His goodness and mercy, God has made it possible for us to spend eternity with Him. Think about eternity for a moment. Eternity is a long, long time. It just goes on forever. When we believe in Jesus, we are visited by heaven daily through God's goodness and mercy, and when this life is over we will be with Jesus forever. In the 14th chapter of John's Gospel, verses 2-3, Jesus said: "In my Father's house are many mansions (dwelling places); if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also." It is through faith in Jesus that we have this kind of life and this kind of eternity. Which leads me to ask you: "Are you being followed?" I pray that you are, but if you aren't Jesus is availabe to you. Just call on Him, and He will hear you. This is a good deal - take it! You will find it to be a wonderful experience. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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