PONDERING... Are You Experiencing His Goodness? —Part 1 (Psalm 34:1-8)

VIDEO

Are You Experiencing His Goodness? —Part 1 (Psalm 34:1-8)

GIST: You can face fear & shame when your life is defined by His goodness; this will then result in a desire to continually praise.

This morning we’re coming to the first part of this beautiful psalm about God’s goodness. This was actually written after one of my favorite events in the life of David, though it is a bit of a controversial one. See, though David was chosen by God to lead Israel and used by God to accomplish incredible things, he spent much of his early life running from the then-current king of Israel, Saul, who was jealous of David’s popularity and success and wanted to kill him. At one point, this led to David seeking refuge in Gath, the land of his enemies...like where Goliath was from. Unfortunately, he was recognized, so he decides to act crazy to see if he can get out of there alive. He raves like a crazy man, making markings are the gates and letting drool run down his chin. And it worked! The king literally said to his servant, “Do I not have enough crazy people here that you’ve brought me this one too?!”, so David is able to leave safely. 

Now, there are some who take this to have been done in poor taste by David. I’m not prepared to make an argument for or against acting crazy to get out of a bad situation. What David took from this occurrence though, and what our psalm focuses in on, is what God reminded him during this time. I actually struggled a bit with how much of this psalm to cover first and how to walk through it, but giving credit where it is due, Tim Keller’s book “The Songs of Jesus” really helped clarify some things for me, and I highly recommend that devotion to anyone looking to walk through the psalms in your personal Bible study. 

That being said, we’re going to focus in on what God’s goodness means to our personal identities and how it should shape the way we face life. So, let’s read just the first 8 verses here, then break down our gist. 

“1 Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away. I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”

There’s a lot I want to try and digest with you guys this morning, so let me just give you our gist so we can dive in→  You can face fear & shame when your life is defined by His goodness; this will then result in a desire to continually praise. To really understand what he’s saying in the first few verses, we need to get the picture of what brought him to this point, so we’re going to look at verses 4-8 first, then close with 1-3. (Bear with me on this one! ☺️) Let’s do it! → 

I. You Can Face Fear & Shame When Your Life Is Defined By His Goodness (4-8)

The first point I want to note here is that→ 

Our Personal Identity Should Be Fed By Our Personal Experiences With Him.  Look at verse 4. “4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”  I want to make two notes about this verse. First, this experience resulted from personal seeking, not relying on the seeking of others. There is so much in this world vying for our attention and, really, our devotion. There are so many voices speaking to our hearts about who we should be and what should define us. I don’t want to just be yet another part of that racket. I can tell you what should define you: your relationship with Jesus— period. However, my words aren’t enough to make that your reality, and they never could be. And my experiences aren’t enough to make that real for you anymore than the experiences of my heroes in the faith is enough to sustain my identity in Him. I need to seek Him myself. I need to spend time reading His Word and praying at all times and seeking His guidance even when the sky is falling. So do you. Hold that thought. I’ll come back to it in about. Four verses ☺️. 

Now, look at what this personal seeking resulted in— deliverance from fears! This hit home for me hard this week because fear has been a special topic of conversation in our house over the past week… especially late at night…and probably provoked by some scary storytelling around recent campfires ☺️. But the fears are legitimate, and one of the questions I’ve been asked most frequently is, “Daddy, why aren’t you afraid of anything?” I’ve given a lot of responses, but what I keep trying to make sure they understand is that I do get scared, and I face fears just like them. If they don’t see me scared, it is probably more because I’m better at hiding it than anything else ☺️. However, I tried to also point them to the fact that as Christians we can face fears by looking not at our circumstances or concerns, but at Jesus. Are you afraid right now? Read this verse again. “4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

 Now, look at verse 5.  “5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” I know I spent a while in that first verse, so I will try to be more concise moving forward. Nonetheless, this is truly a beautiful truth here. This is pointing to us as new creations in Christ. Notice two key aspects here. First, let’s look at this idea of radiance. 

This seems to point to some kind of visible change from having met with Him and being His. I immediately thought about young love here. We have all seen this and many have experienced what it’s like to be first in love with someone. It changes you. You kind of have this glow about you and nothing else in the world can pop that bubble. Though I might make fun of teenagers going through this, I know first hand that when you experience being loved and return that love in equal measure, it’s something incredibly special. That’s what is being pointed to here…. times infinity! We’re given this new identity and there is no longer room for shame as we have been cleansed of all unrighteousness and called children of the One True King! 

I really wanted to lay that foundation clearly, so I will try to hit this next sub-point a bit quicker. Once we have this new identity→ 

Remembering Who We Are & Who He Is Drives Our Proper Perspective. Look at verse 6. “6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” This is a man who has been shown tremendous favor. God has chosen him to lead Israel, and despite Saul’s attempts to kill him, the nation as a whole views him as a great hero. Nonetheless, he has the proper perspective on his position. He is a poor man who needs rescued. Just like me. Just like you. And→ 

“7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” Oh, this is awesome. He’s weak and in need, but he has the proper perspective on God’s power too! He is in need, and God surrounds those who seek Him and relievers them. This is a beautiful picture of what Jesus does for those who love Him.

Which brings us to this call to, again, experience this for ourselves. This verse is one of the most recognizable portions of this particular psalm, and it’s such a wonderful admonition. “8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” It’s a call to come and experience his goodness for yourself. To taste and then see that He is good! Don’t take my word for it. I heard a pastor connect this verse to “Green Eggs and Ham”. And before you think I’m being sacrilegious, here me out. Throughout the whole book, Sam I Am is trying to convince this man to try green eggs and ham. He presents it to the guy in many different locations and keeps asserting that it’s great, but the guy just categorically refuses to accept it. But toward the end Sam I Am says, “You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may, I say.” If you’ve read the book, you know where I’m going next. The guy relents and tries them...and lo’ and behold, he loves them! What made the difference? He tasted and saw. David is giving us the same call here. Come and see for yourself that God is good. 

And, he keeps going...but we’ll cover that next week. ☺️ For now, let’s circle back quickly to where this psalm then started. You can face fear & shame when your life is defined by His goodness, and→ 

II. This Will Then Result In A Desire To Continually Praise

I won’t keep you much longer. Let’s just walk through this. “1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” When your identity is in Him, praise will be your lifestyle! “2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.” I don’t boast in my own accomplishments but only in who He is and what He’s done! And, along the way I want to encourage others to do the same, especially those in need of encouragement. The word humble here could be translated as “weak, lowly, or afflicted” as well, so this is a picture of encouraging the weak to raise their eyes up to their Savior. And that is supported by this last verse here→ “3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!” When this is our lives, it will result in an overflowing desire. We’ll want to see Him lifted up by the multitudes. That should be the heart of our church to see more and more come to this saving relationship. 

TAKEAWAYS

1. Have you experienced His goodness?
2. Are you letting His goodness define you? Or are you letting the things of this world do that? 
3. How eager are you to see Him praised?

PONDERING... Why Should You Care About God’s Goodness? (James 1:13-18)

VIDEO

Why Should You Care About God’s Goodness? (AM Sermon Notes)

VBS Family Day Sunday

GIST: God is good. We desperately need His goodness. AND because of His goodness, He made that possible.

SCRIPTURE: James 1:13-18

Welcome to VBS Family Day! I love it. I love Vacation Bible School. I love seeing the excitement on these kid’s faces. I love watching them learn about Jesus in interactive and hands-on ways. And, I love having an opportunity to then share a little bit of that with all the families involved on these Sundays. If you’re a regular on Sunday mornings, we’re going to do something which seems to only happen on Family Day☺️. We’re taking a Sunday off of our regular study. Instead of moving on in the book of Psalms, today we’re going to look at the memory verse the kids have been learning this weekend. We’ll be looking at a few verses above to give it some context, as well. But to open, let’s just read James 1:16-17. 

“16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” 

All weekend, we’ve been talking about God’s goodness. Some of us love this topic because we know what it is to experience God’s goodness even when everything else in the world is crumbling. For others, this topic doesn’t have the same appeal. You’ve seen heartbreak and tragedy and don’t see how God could possibly be good in all of this. Or, you simply don’t see what God’s goodness has to do with your day-to-day life anyway. I want to be brief this morning because I know there are many distractions pulling for our attention. However, the three quick points I want to make today as we walk through this passage our literally the most important truths we can ever come to know. Here’s our gist: God is good. We desperately need His goodness. AND because of His goodness, He made that possible.

Let’s break that down! First→ 

I. GOD IS GOOD (16-17)

This passage opens by telling us essentially→ 

Don’t Miss This! “16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” Like I said a second ago, this can be easy to miss. It’s easy to look at the world and either assume God isn’t good, or that goodness comes from ourselves or natural chance, not God. But the truth is→ 

Every Blessing Is From God. “17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” Any good that happens in your life is an expression of God’s grace. This world is tainted by sin. We’re going to talk about this more in a second, but for now I just want to get this across: it’s easy to complain. It’s easy to look at life and think it’s just a serious of unfair and devastating events. Maybe you wouldn’t want to sound pessimistic and put it that way, but when we talk, we tend to spend much more time dwelling on the negatives than looking for positives. BUT, if we pay attention, we see that even in the hardest times, there are still blessings every single day. Friends, family, good weather. Smiles still cross our faces in this broken world, and that is because God is being gracious to us→ 

Because He Is The Source Of All Goodness. The verse says goodness is “coming down from the Father of lights”. There are two thoughts being communicated here. First, He is the creator God, so He literally made all the lights in the sky. He created the entire universe! But more than that, light and darkness is being used symbolically here in these next few statements. He is the source of light as in goodness and purity and righteousness. All that is good comes from God. Morality isn’t the result of random chance, but the reason people all around the world can agree that there are certain things that are good and certain things that are bad is because they were created by the same God who places this upon their hearts! 

And He Never Changes! I love this last part here, “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” This good God is the same as He has always been. Sometimes when we grow up in church, we read about all that God has done with His people in the past, and we’re amazed, but we think that’s just a thing of the past. He did that, but He’s not moving like that anymore. He won’t do that in my life. Yet, the same God who rescued Daniel from the lions’ den, and saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace, and protected Noah and his family during the world-wide flood is still moving in our lives today. The same Jesus who came healing the sick, casting out demons, and changing the world by offering salvation is still alive today. He still loves you just as much as He did when He took on Hell in your place. Your circumstances might change, but God never does! You might feel powerless today, or hurt, or confused. But Jesus hasn’t changed. He’s still all-powerful and all-loving, and He still wants to call you His child. 

So, why does this matter? Because→ 

II. WE DESPERATELY NEED HIS GOODNESS (13-15)

We all know that we need help. If we’re honest, we know that we’re not truly good at heart, that this sin that taints the world is a very real and present part of our lives as well. The verses above the one’s we’ve read outline just how serious this condition is. Look at verses 13-15. “13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” There’s a lot in this, but let me just make two observations here this morning. First→

Our Hearts Are Sinful & Sin Leads To Hell. Sin doesn’t come from someplace outside of you. We’re tempted to do things only because deep down we want to. It’s easy to blame our shortcomings on circumstances or our environment or whatever. However, at the core, the only reason we sin is because we’re sinners. And this sin leads to death, not just physical death though. This reference to spiritual death is talking about Hell—the eternal punishment we choose when we reject God’s grace and try to just keep following our own ways. The problem is→  

We Can’t Make Ourselves Good Enough! Think about it like this. The standard of good is God. Can you even meet your own standard of goodness? All the things you know you should be doing, do you do them? All the things that drive you crazy when you see other people doing them, are you able to stop yourself doing those same things? I know I don’t. And I know you don’t either. We’re trapped by our own sinful desires, and there is nothing we can do to save ourselves no matter how hard we try. I know that seems depressing, but we were never meant to do this on our own. We’re drowning in the middle of the ocean, and we need someone to rescue us.

That’s the severity of our situation. We need the goodness of God because we’re not good. That’s what makes His love so amazing. He didn’t wait until we were good enough, but while we were still sinners, He came and He died and He rose again to make a way for us to be with Him forever. The Bible tells us if we believe in Him and give Him control we experience grace—goodness we don’t deserve— as He saves us and takes us, those who have been running from Him, and calls us His children. See, it’s precisely because of His goodness that→ 

III. HE MADE THAT POSSIBLE (18)

Look at verse 18, which was actually part of the kid’s memory verse this week. “18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Let me just run through three quick observations here, as well. First→ 

He Chose To Do This! “Of His own will” means because He wanted to do it! He didn’t have to save us. He wasn’t obligated to pour out His grace. He didn’t need us in Heaven to make Himself complete. He did that because of His unmerited, unfailing love! What exactly is He doing?

He’s Giving Us Life Through His Word! The Word of Truth is the Scriptures, the Bible. Here, we see the Gospel, the good news, through which He gives us life! I’ve probably said this a million times already this morning, but I don’t want you to miss this. The Gospel is this: God is holy and loving. We are sinners heading to Hell as we follow our own desires. Jesus chose to come and live the perfect life you could not, and die the death you deserved, taking Hell upon Himself and rising again, so that anyone who calls upon His name, knowing He is God and knowing they need His goodness and desiring to be His, will be saved! That’s amazing grace. Through His sacrifice→ 

We Can Be His! Firstfruits refer to precious offerings or sacrifices made to God. We can be offered up to Him, and when we are, we become His, and He takes us in, again, as His precious children. We are forgiven and covered in His righteousness, His goodness. 

TAKEAWAYS

I promised brevity, so let’s just recap here.

1. God is good.

2. We desperately need His goodness.

3. And, precisely because of His goodness, He made that possible!