WHEN GOOD THINGS COME OUR WAY
#073 WHEN GOOD THINGS COME OUR WAY
Scripture Psalm 84:11 NIV Orig. November 24. 1963
Rewr. November 17, 1984
Passage:
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
Purpose: On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, to remind my people of the great goodness of God to His people.
Keywords: God Goodness Special Days
Timeline/Series: Thanksgiving
Introduction
Have you ever reasoned within yourself to see what it is that you really expect from God? Do we seriously expect God to bless us with wealth when so much of the world’s people go hungry?
I could not help but notice the disparity this week. U.S.A. Today featured an article on hunger in Africa. “Americans who have been to Ethiopia remember the silent children . . . . or women gathering grass for their families’ meals. Or children with bloated bellies tugging at the arms of visitors or lying on the road to stop food trucks.”
The disparity came a day or so later while reading an article in Newsweek. The article was entitled “America’s Nutrition Revolution.” It described a beautifully appointed salad bar. “No,” said the article, “it isn’t Malibu. It’s the Greyhound Bus Station in Chicago, hog butcher for the world.”
It’s great to have a choice. It is greater still to know about nutrition, and to be able to eat accordingly.
Ethiopia and half of Africa is in what some call the worst famine of the 20th Century, and most Americans are more concerned about higher standards of living, better roads, less taxes, bigger amusement parks, and how to best invest our money.
Now what was that question again? Do we seriously expect God to bless us with wealth when so much of the world’s people go hungry?”
I. Good Comes from the Vision of God for His People. The text boldly proclaims “No good thing” asserting that good does not come by accident. Psalms 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Romans 12:9 “Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.” I Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
It is God’s nature to abhor evil, cleave to good, so it is expected of you and me. Thus, in those good things that we receive, we are to perceive them as His gifts of love to us. We are to be very careful that we not perceive only that which is materially advantageous as good.
One Sunday morning in New Orleans, the paper told a large story between the lines. Tulane won when Vandy failed to score from the one yard line in the last minutes of the game. The winning coach was quoted as saying “Just the grace of God.”
There is one all-encompassing guideline by which God determines the “good thing” which He will not withhold. Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.” What we receive is from the supply of his divine economy. Since He has other children, we are “joint heirs” to His riches in glory.” His promise is to “supply all your need.” Anything that you have that you do not need, you decide where it came from.
II. Good Comes from the Involvement of God with His People. “No good thing will the Lord withhold from them . . . .” In our pseudo-sophistication, either out of church or in church, many people have discounted God. What Paul wrote to the Romans in 1:22, what some will miss in tonight’s message: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
To discount God is to discount Him to our doom and to our perversion. Ethiopia is a case in point. They have been in the eastern bloc. Russia could supply them with arms; not with grain. Russia can’t feed her own. At the same time, America, with stored grain to stabilize prices, is more concerned about its economy than the starving people of Africa, or the poor around us.
God is the one constant in life. Bread and water are changing commodities. Heat (or cooling) and light seem to grow increasingly expensive. Even love and hate are cyclical, as seen in Ireland. But God never changes.
Moses defined for the people the meaning of their obedience. Exodus 23:25 “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless your bread and your water.”
So what is important??? The Bread and Water, or God’s Blessing? Jesus reached the same conclusion in The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:3). “Give us this day our daily bread.” Again, what is important? The bread! The water! Or the One from whom it comes.
III. Good Comes with the Invitation of God to His People. “No good thing will the Lord withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Some people seem to think that the answer is in sitting back and waiting for God to act. It is clearly in God’s vision. God foresaw for Israel a great blessing through David as King.
We are also dependent upon God’s Involvement. God accepted David as a shepherd lad, saw him through many character flaws to help him become. But make no mistake, the Invitation calls us to commitment of self. God calls us, invites us, to consider good on His terms, to acquaint ourselves with the world as it is. What prayer is said at your table? “I thank thee, Lord, that I am not as others are”? What if instead we might pray, “Help me to be worthy of the bounty of Thy love.”
Read again that beautiful 100th Psalm. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands, Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God, it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.”
God invites us to live in His world as His children. Accept His invitation to the upright walk. That’s not sinlessness. It’s putting Him first. Receive from Him the assurance of every “good thing” for our spiritual well-being.
Closing
Bro. Emory Wallace told this story of a father from Mobile, AL. His daughter was in jail in DeRidder. He called Bro. Wallace asking if he knew how she was doing. Her cynicism was uncontained until he told her about her father’s call, and of his love.