My Gracious and Compassionate Friend

9-3-08

SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 111:4 He has caused His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.

OBSERVATION:
When I read this Psalm, I get why the Bible is so important to our relationship with God. Without all the stories, poems, letters, parables, prophecies, and such that radiate out of the pages of the Bible, we would have limited knowledge of God's wonders. It helps us even when we're reading these obscure, odd-like and sometimes bazaar passages in Ezekiel (what was Ezekiel thinking?).

God has given us the gift of "causing His wonders to be remembered" throughout generations. It's our responsibility to pass on the text to the next generation and to the next... The Good News that our Lord really is gracious and compassionate. I get to pass it on to my children and you get to pass it on to yours. This is one of the reasons we are valuing the habit of doing our Life Journals daily.

APPLICATION:
Last Sunday, I made the statement that if we believe that God is really not good (that He has somehow scammed you or is holding out on you) that we can justify anything. The heart that believes God is not good or is unfair can justify any behavior. Most sin can be traced back to this sort of thinking.

That's why I need to be consistently reminded of God's goodness. God is good. yesterday, today and tomorrow. I want to consistently remind my family that God is good. I can do that by passing on the stories from Scripture that express God's goodness.

This morning I am grateful for who God is to me - in me! He is faithful and fair. My God is so trustworthy. When I am hurting, growing hard hearted, sick in thoughts, wounded in soul, self-centered in my actions... my Daddy is there as a faithful listener, fair counselor and a trustworthy accountability friend.

PRAYER:
I so grateful to You, my good, gracious, compassionate and faithful Father and Friend! God, you are good. I pray for those I serve and live with and among would experience You and Your grace, compassion, faithfulness and goodness personally! I want them to know Your character - who You are, is who I love! I ask that You lead us (Your people at Radiant Life Fellowship) to fully follow You with every part of us. Help us to get clarity on decisions about moving locations. Continue to bless us. Thank you for Your blessings.