No matter where you are in this life, whether you are presently experiencing a happy time or a sad time; whether you are on top of the world or the world is on top of you; you ought to be able to stop and celebrate the goodness of God.

There is much truth to the maxim “I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.” Not one of us has experienced the mind-numbing poverty that plagues many places in the world or even the political and social unrest that have marked centuries past.

Whether you perceive this particular season to be one of optimism and hopefulness or one of pessimism and despair; I invite you to consider a portion of the life of an ancient Jew – King David.

Not one of us has seen the distress that David had seen by the time he wrote the 27th Psalm.  On several occasions, David was almost murdered at the hands of his own king – King Saul.  For most of his young adult life, David lived as a fugitive, on the run with a bounty on his head.

Far from being a pampered prince, David lived in some of the most rugged terrain in the Middle East.  Even though he had his chances to kill his nemesis, Saul, his faith in God would not allow it.  The only option David had was to evade Saul until the day that God would finally intervene.  That day took years to come.

 

Yet David still had confidence in the goodness of God.  He wrote the 27th Psalm while he was still patiently waiting for deliverance.  In this Psalm, David hedges his whole life on the fact that God is good.  He demonstrates this by celebrating the goodness of God even in the midst of his ongoing personal calamities.

I know that somebody in your family may be sick.  It is still a good time to celebrate the goodness of God.  I know that you and your spouse may not be on the same page at times…or even in the same book, but it is still a good time to celebrate the goodness of God.

Of course, it should also be expected that both the job and the attendant attitudes of the “company brass” will rub us the proverbial “wrong way.”

Yet it remains a good time to celebrate the goodness of God.  If you are waiting for things to “get better” before you recognize the goodness of God, then you have missed the point of His goodness.

Sometimes as we pray our problems intrude upon us.  Have you ever prayed and got so discouraged about your problems or the problems of others that you just stopped?

Perhaps you thought that you had so many problems that you just wouldn’t pray at all.  The Psalmist does not let problems impinge on his prayer.  He concludes his prayer, not by focusing on his problems, but on the goodness of God.

When problems overshadow God, then your problems become your God.  Ultimately we have to trust that God is good and that whatever we are going through has meaning and purpose.

David was so burdened down with his current circumstances that he made the strong statement of verse 13:  “Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

Said differently, if God is not good, then I have no hope.  Sometimes things get so tough in life that the only thing that we can really count on, is the fact that God really is good.

David’s conclusion:  “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.” His goodness, and the strength of character that He ultimately brings, are enough to celebrate!

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Rev. R.D. Bernard is pastor at King Solomon Baptist Church. He can be reached at 601-638-7658.