Yes! There is Good News! June 9, 2018

Paul tells us that “the commandment is holy, righteous and good.” And then goes on to tell us, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10) Why do we not want to do the things that are good for us? We humans are a strange lot! We want God but we want Him on our own terms and yet He is the creator and the giver of all good gifts. As James says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Did you catch that? “He does not change like shifting shadows.” In other words He does not play “good cop / bad cop” with us. He is not a good God today but tomorrow He is not so good. (James 1:17) Elsewhere in the bible it says that He is the same yesterday, today and forever ... Hmmmm? Why is it that many of us think He has changed?

Do you like the Psalms? There are so many beautiful thoughts and tremendous bits of wisdom in the Book of Psalms. Might we take a quick walk through the 119th Psalm together? Verse 1: “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart.” Right off the bat, we have two beatitudes that tell us it is a blessing to keep His laws. Verse 11: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Verse 20: “My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.” Verse 46: “I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands.” Verse 174: “I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.”

This Psalm is the longest in the Psalter - 176 verses – and in each one we find words that lift up the law of God!! Did you know that Moses was not the first to receive these commands and laws? I have heard some say that these laws were just for the Israelites. But long before there was an Israelite, we are told that Abraham kept the laws of our God (who changes not!).  And by the way, Abraham was not an Israelite; he was not a Jew. Judah, from whom the Jews get their name, was the great-grand-son of Abraham. When Isaac (Abraham’s son) was being blessed by God, we read this: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.” (Genesis 26:4&5)

It was four articles ago that I mentioned how huge a subject is the topic of “law,” and we have only touched the surface. God’s law is good and keeping it is good news! And yet somehow we tend to see this world’s empty glory and run after it. The only way we humans can be filled and fulfilled is by allowing the God of the universe to guide us, to direct our paths and to fill us with His loving kindness. He has a plan and He is working it out. Perhaps I have said it before but in any text book all the answers are found at the end and so it is with the bible; in the end of the book of Revelation we find that God wins. Satan is defeated and destroyed; the righteous are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. God is good – amen.