Has God been good to you? Has God been good to us as a people? What do you think? What are your thoughts? As we look back over all the days of our lives, we can look at life as being something positive or as something negative. We can either see progression or regression. We can look back with regret or with gratitude. It is up to us what we see and how we look at it.
There are those among us who will see the glass as half full and those that will see it half empty. It is all about our perspective. There was a story being told of two men who were looking through bars – one saw mud, the other saw stars. It is a matter of the state of the mind. One was an optimist and the other a pessimist.
Not one of us can say that God has not been good to us, regardless of what is happening in our lives. Some people may have come, some people may have gone.
We may have gone through heartaches and pain, disappointments and trouble, job loss, financial issues, difficulties paying rents and mortgages, problems with families, children, spouses, and partners – and even some employers, but God has been good to us. God is still with us! His goodness can be seen in the fact that He protects us from dangers seen and unseen.
God’s goodness has been manifested in our lives through His efforts to put us in the right position at the right time. God’s goodness is seen in his provision for us day by day.
God’s grace is yet another reason we can all thank Him today. Whether we will admit it or not, God’s grace has made the difference in our lives. If we take a personal inventory of the blessings of God we have received, since we were born, we will say that “Down through the years, God has been good to us.” Not one of us can say that we have not experienced the unexpected, undeserved kindness and goodness of God. God has been good to us all. We receive His goodness every second of the day. It is poured out on us constantly: by the air we breathe, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, we are in our right mind and, most, if not all, our organs are functioning. We have so much to be thankful for.
What about you? Do you only see the negative things in your life? Can you not find the positive things in your life to give God thanks and praise for? No matter what we have been through, or are going through, God has been good to us. Think back on a time when something good happened to you. I am sure you can tell a story about how God has been good to you. You see, how we view God, is how we will react towards Him. Although the children of Israel suffered much, they could testify about the goodness of God. He brought them out of bondage in Egypt. He provided food and water in the wilderness.
He parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River and sent His Son to be the Great Redeemer. We must believe that God is a good God. He will help us in the good times and the bad. If we realise just how good God is, it will change our outlook towards everything in life.
Jeremiah reminded us that God has good things planned for us. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God has planned for us to do good things, and He provides the gifts and His life within us – to do those good things. God has made a way for us to participate in His goodness. All goodness is of God, but He has made a way for us to experience his goodness personally. God has made it possible for us to share in his goodness. If we could only grasp the truth of this, that God is good and is directing our lives into good things with good results, it would change our outlook. Since our God is good towards us, we should be good towards others as well.
Can you see and feel God’s goodness in your life today? Sometimes a look back at our lives to date can give us much encouragement for the days ahead. Samuel knew that. 1 Samuel 7:12 states, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.” He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” You see, the Israelites had just had a great victory over the Philistine army, a victory made certain by God’s divine intervention from heaven. The prophet Samuel stood in their midst and declared, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” He took time out to recall God’s blessings towards them.
My friends, we too can do the same. Amid our struggles, we would do well to take stock of God’s blessings in our lives over the years. In doing so, we can find great encouragement and optimism to move on. Our God never failed us yet. He does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and will be forever.
God has helped us in the past and will not quit on us now. 1 John 5:14-15 state, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” So, whatever your need is today, you can turn to Him. Let us open our hearts and give thanks and praises to God. Let us join with the hymn writer – John Hampden Gurney, and proclaim God’s goodness and wonderful works to us. Let us join him and say:
Yes, God is good: in earth and sky,
From ocean’s depths and spreading wood,
Ten thousand voices seem to cry,
God made us all, and God is good.
The sun that keeps his trackless way,
And downward pours his golden flood,
Night’s sparkling hosts, all seem to say,
In accents clear, that God is good.
The merry birds prolong the strain,
Their song with every spring renewed.
And balmy air, and falling rain,
Each softly whispers, God is good.
Yes, God is good, all nature says,
By God’s own hand with speech endued.
And man, in louder notes of praise,
Should sing for joy that God is good.
For all Thy gifts we bless Thee, Lord,
But chiefly for our heavenly food.
Thy pardoning grace, Thy quickening word,
These prompt our song that God is good.
Remember: Our God is good all the time. Activate your faith, live in victory, speak over your life, and expect great things to come your way. A Most Blessed New Year.
About the Author: Mrs. Marilyn Hodge owns and operates the Wellness Centre in the Farrington, Anguilla. The Centre offers Counselling Services by Appointment Only and has now published Positive Living Volume 3. Contact information: 476-3517 or email: marilynb@anguillanet.com. www.facebook.com/axawellnesscentre
