On Not Assuming God's Goodness

Psalms 31.19 has a precious promise, but we must not miss the careful prescription that is included. Oh how abundant is your goodness! Ah. Here is great news. God's goodness is like a spring that keeps bubbling up from who knows where that fills up it's cistern and then overflows and runs over the sides and down to the ground creating a brook. It just keeps coming and coming forever.

But. His goodness is abundant for those who fear you. This is what we must not miss. God's goodness is abundant with qualification—towards those who fear him. We must not expect God's goodness to overflow if we don't fear him, but this is exactly what we often do. We presume upon God's goodness even when our heart is far from him, and then are baffled that we don't receive it.

Is your life miserable? God's goodness is a spring waiting to fill up your life so that you cannot contain it, but it certainly won't, if you do not fear, reverence, honor, and glorify him.

Humility and How the Remnant did not Attain It

Jeremiah 44.10 this morning. Despite Jeremiah's faithfully proclaiming the word of the Lord to those left in the land by the Babylonian army, they would not listen to his message and fled to Egypt for safety and then took up their practice of sacrificing to the queen of heaven, vowing that they would continue to do so! As Jeremiah describes their situation he gets to the crux of the problem. Even though God had brought all of this calamity on Judah, they did not humble themselves. They did not fear God. They did not walk in his ways and according to his statutes.

From this we can easily see that God's aim for God's people is to fear him, to walk in his commandments, and to walk in humility before him. So...how are you doing?