https://www.flickr.com/photos/mythoto/ Matthew J. Leonard
Surely Goodness and Mercy will follow me all the days of my life
God has been so good to me! Can you look back at your life and see God’s footprints on your journey? If you can say that God has watched over, guided, cared for you and followed you with “goodness and mercy” then this phrase in Psalms 23 will cause you to pause and bow in thankfulness and gratitude to Him. He is the good shepherd who cares for His sheep. Psalms 100:3 says, “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” We can truly rest knowing that He tenderly cares for each of His sheep.
If you look at all the words in the illustration above, can you see God’s goodness and mercy following you? God is ALWAYS working in the lives of His children. His presence is ALWAYS with us. He is continually preparing the pasture before us. He is there anointing us with His healing oil. He is there for comfort and protection.
Do you see the places His “goodness and mercy” has followed you? Our God is an awesome God!!
Now the test.
Philip Keller tells a story in his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalms 23, of a time when he had two friends come and visit for a few days. The friends invited Mr. Keller to go with them to their next engagement. After several days on the road, one of them missed his hat. The friend was sure he left it at Keller’s home. Mr. Keller wrote a note to his wife at home and ask her to look for it. Her reply was one he would never forget. She wrote, “I have combed the house from top to bottom and can find no trace of the hat. The only thing those men left behind was a great blessing.” Wow! There is the test! Can that be said of me? You?
Acts 10:38 “”You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
“Surely goodness and mercy” followed Jesus for the Word says, “He went about doing good.”
Do we go about doing good? Does the fragrance of Christ follow you and me wherever we go each day?
“ But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NASB)
One way His goodness and mercy follows us is found in Romans 8:28.(NAS) “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Our Father and Good Shepherd is always making our disappoints and failures work for our good. Grace is His unmerited favor toward us. Goodness and mercy, his unending lovingkindness follows us, surrounds us and also leads us. His grace is the alchemy that neutralizes our mistakes, failures, our past and transforms us into who we are in Christ. His goodness and mercy shadows us with the shepherd’s constant care.
Father.
Thank you that you follow us with goodness and mercy all the days of our lives. Thank you that you are faithful to us even when we are faithless. Thank you God for transforming our past into a future that brings strength for the journey and gives us comfort that we can use to comfort others.
Help us to always remember to go about “doing good” as you did on this earth. Help us to be a fragrant aroma to you in our service to others. May we never forget the sacrifice you made so that our sins could be forgiven and we could eternally be with you.
Treading on…
Freda Reynolds
https://youtu.be/bwm1HpkaIDQ
