THE GOODNESS OF THE L-RD

 

Psalm 33:1-5: “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the LORD with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; Play skilfully with a shout of joy. For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.”

 

The thunder of waves; the beauty of a rose; the sun shining in its strength; the coolness of a breeze on a hot day; the birds singing to usher in a new day; the beauty of a bright red sun setting in the evening; the radiant light of a full moon.

 

 No wonder the psalmist declares in Psalm 33:5: “the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD”.

No wonder Isaiah 6:3 declares: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”

 

Wherever one looks, one sees that the earth is full of the goodness of the L-rd and that the whole earth is full of His glory. 

Bite into a juicy peach and you taste the goodness of the L-rd.

Look at an African sunset on a clear evening and you see the goodness of the L-rd.

Listen to rain falling on the earth and you hear the goodness of the L-rd.

Smell the fragrance of a rose and you smell the goodness of the L-rd.

Feel the soft skin of a baby and you touch the goodness of the L-rd.

Truly, the earth is full of the goodness of the L-rd.

 

When Almighty G-d made the earth, the sky, the sea, the birds of the air, the animals in the field and the sun, moon, stars and planets, He saw that “it was good”. However when it came to the creation of man, Genesis 1:27-28 records the following: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””

Genesis 1:31 goes on to say: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

 

After G-d created man, He saw that it was very good. In other words, you as man and woman are “very good” to G-d.

In fact, you are so precious to G-d, that scripture records in Matthew 10:30: “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Isn’t that amazing!

 

I love my late wife of blessed memory passionately! However, although she was by my side for thirty eight years, I do not know how many hairs she had on her head. Yet scripture shows that G-d knows the exact number of hairs on your head.

You may ask: “Do you think G-d literally knows how many hairs I have on my head?” Yes, I do believe that G-d literally knows the exact number of hairs on your head; after all, He created you.

 

Scripture tells us in John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (Yeshua), that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” 

 

In Genesis 22, we read the account of how G-d tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham immediately obeyed G-d; but just before Abraham sacrificed Isaac, G-d stopped him and provided a ram for sacrifice in place of Isaac.

However G-d did sacrifice His Son, Yeshua, on the cross for you and for me.

 

Hebrews 10:10-12 declares: “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” 

 

G-d’s love for you is so great that He sacrificed His Son, Yeshua, so that your sins can be forgiven you and so that your eternal future can be secured… this applies to both Jews and Gentiles.” 

 

Leviticus 17:11 declares that the only way to the forgiveness of sin and eternal life in heaven is through the sacrificial system and the shedding of blood - “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

However there is no temple, therefore there is no sacrificial system and there is no shedding of blood. How then, does one make atonement for one’s soul?

Only by believing in Yeshua, confessing your sins and repenting of them and inviting Yeshua to become L-rd of your life will your sins be forgiven you and your eternal future be secured. 

 

And you can do this by simply praying the following prayer: “Thank you Yeshua for Your love for me and for giving up Your life on the cross for me. Thank you for taking my sins upon Yourself. I confess that I have sinned. I repent of my sins and turn from everything I know to be wrong. I invite You to come into my heart and live in me and by Your grace I will serve You all the remaining years of my life.” 

 

The next time you hear the thunder of waves, look at the beauty of a rose, see the sun shining in its strength, feel the coolness of a breeze on a hot day, hear the birds singing to usher in a new day, watch a bright red sun setting in the evening and see the radiant light of a full moon, remember the following words in Psalm 33:5: “the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD”, as well as the words in Isaiah 6:3: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”

 

So do what Rav Shaul (the Apostle Paul) says in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”