1 Chronicles 16:34 - Praise God for His Goodness and Everlasting Love.
1 Chronicles 16:34 (NKJV) Oh, give thanks to
the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures
forever.
1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV) Give thanks to the
LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
INTRODUCTION
Commitment is not very common today. Married
couples, for example, promise to stay committed to
each other, but the large number of divorces
every year indicates that many spouses are not
being faithful to their vows. God, on the other
hand, always stays true to his word and has been
faithful for all eternity. Faithfulness is not
something God aspires to; it is an essential part of
his character. When God makes a promise, he
always keeps it. [The One Year Bible for New
Believers taken from Deu.7:9]
COMMENTARY PEARL
How Long Is Forever?
How long is forever? If you try to count
it with a stopwatch, forget it. It is a
limitless time, an order of magnitude beyond human
comprehension.
Today's Bible promise tells us that God's
"mercy endures forever. The Hebrew word for
mercy in this passage, checed, is elsewhere
translated as lovingkindness, goodness, and favor.
God's kindness is not connected to some heavenly
timer that will someday run out. "God is love" (1
John 4:8, emphasis added). God has always been
love, and God will always be love. It is part of
His unchanging character.
Human mercy runs out. We grow tired of
being patient. We break down, get fed up, and
finally say, "I've had it." Not God. "His mercy
endures forever. That doesn't mean the judgment
will be canceled, but even when probation closes,
God will still be merciful. Even when fire rains
down on the wicked, God is still love, for it is
an act of mercy to destroy all sin and those
who cling to it.
When David composed this song of
thanksgiving in 1 Chronicles 16, his description of God
was truly a promise. It is good news to know
that our God doesn't have off days. The Lord
doesn't have fickle thoughts about us. Not only has
God existed for eternity; but His attributes
have also never changed. He will never stop
loving you, even if you turn away from Him.
The time will come when our loving God
will give us up to our own choices; if we
adamantly refuse His mercy, we will be lost. But until
then, the Lord will keep pursuing you. Will you
respond to His mercy?
O Lord, You are full of love and mercy. I
accept Your kindness and want to live for You
forever. [The Most Amazing Bible Promises by Amazing
Facts]
COMMENTARY
My friend Jerry has taught me the value
of gratitude. He is seventy-eight years old and
regularly shoots his age on the golf course. His dear
wife, Ginger, battles Parkinson's disease. What
should have been a wonderful season of retirement
has been marred by multiple hospital stays,
medication, and struggles. Yet he never complains. He
always has a smile and a joke. I asked Jerry his
secret. He said, "Every morning Ginger and I sit
together and sing a hymn. I ask her what she wants to
sing. She always says, 'Count Your Blessings.' So
we sing it. And we count our blessings.
Take a moment and follow Jerry's example.
Look at your blessings.
Do you see any friends? Family? Do you
see any grace from God? The love of God?
Do you see any gifts? Abilities or
talents?
As you look at your blessings, take note
of what happens. Anxiety grabs his bags and
slips out the back door. One heartfelt thank-you
will suck the oxygen out of worry's world. So say
it often. Focus more on what you do have and
less on what you don't. [You Can Count On God by
Max Lucado re parallel passage in Psa. 118:1]
Unconditional Thanks
For a time during my childhood, I lived
with my grandparents, Mama Stella and Daddy
Charles. Every day seemed like Thanksgiving Day at
their house because Mama Stella was a great cook.
She made everything from scratch.
Of all the things that Mama Stella made,
her biscuits were her crowning achievement. And
although many in my family have tried to replicate
them, no one has been able to.
Now, I never would have thought of eating
any of the biscuit ingredients separately. None
of them were appealing in and of themselves.
But mixed by Mama Stellas expert hands, those
ingredients resulted in the most amazing biscuits.
In the same way, God in His sovereign
wisdom has a way of working all things together for
good to those who are the called according to
His purpose (Romans 8:28 NKJV). We may not
fully know what the good or the bad things are
until we get to Heaven.
But God can take all the events of our
lives"the good things and the so-called bad
things"and put them in the oven of adversity. And when
its all done, we can say, Thats good!
Its easy for us to give thanks for
what we perceive as good things, but its not
so easy to give thanks for what we perceive as
bad things. Yet Ive discovered that the
difference between the two isnt always clear, at
least in this side of Heaven.
I know people who wished for certain
good things to happen in their lives, and when
they did, those so-called good things destroyed
them. Sometimes they even included success. I also
know people who lamented over bad things that
happened in their lives, but with the passing of time
they realized that those bad things were actually
good things.
To give thanks to God, we must first
realize as Christians that God is in control of all
the circumstances in our lives. [Greg Laurie
from Harvest Ministries;
https://www.harvestdaily.com re parallel passage in Psa. 106:1]
Singing In Your Struggles
Separated from friends, unjustly accused,
brutally treated - if any man had a right to complain
it was this man, languishing almost forgotten
in a harsh Roman prison. But instead of
complaints, his lips rang with words of praise and
thanksgiving!
This was the apostle Paul - a man who had
learned the meaning of true thanksgiving, even in
the midst of great adversity. Look carefully at
what he wrote during that prison experience:
"Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
always giving thanks to God the Father for
everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph.
5:19-20 NIV).
Think of it! "Always giving thanks ...
for everything" no matter the circumstances. His
guards and fellow prisoners must have thought him
crazy - but that didn't stop him. Thanksgiving for
Paul was not a once-a-year celebration, but a
daily reality that made him a joyful person in
every situation. May that be true of us.
Because of what Christ has done, we, too,
can sing songs of praise at midnight (Acts
16:25). No matter how dark the season or how
painful the trial. God is still good and worthy of
praise. [Hope for Each Day by Billy Graham re
parallel passage in Psa. 107:1]
I have been known to overplay a song. Or
as my husband, Scott, says, drive it straight
into the ground. But really how else can you
memorize the lyrics so that you sing it at the top of
your lungs in the car? You have to play it over
and over and over so that the words can work
their way into your soul. So that you can sing
without thinking and know the truth of it in the
very marrow of your bones. My kids complain when
I say, "Hey, let's play that one more time."
But I don't just want to hear it over and over
again. It's the only way I can truly understand
it.
Repetition is a good thing. We need to
hear about Jesus's love over and over before it
begins to sink in. We need to experience His
faithfulness repeatedly in our lives before we can begin
to understand His character. We need to hear
His voice time after time before we can
recognize His truth in our hearts.
Jesus is singing a song of freedom and
hope and peace over our lives. It is a tune that
we need in our heads and in our hearts, so that
we can begin to learn it and live it. His
faithful love endures forever. It is never going
away. Can you feel the truth of it? Can you hear
the hope thrumming in between the chords? Can
you understand the importance of knowing that
Jesus loves you endlessly? He will never leave you
or forsake you. Ever. Lean in, listen, and soak
it up. by Susanna Foth Aughtmon
Faith Step: Listen to the song, "No
Longer Slaves, online and set it on repeat. Let
the words penetrate your heart and know that
Jesus loves you beyond measure. [Mornings With
Jesus 2018 Devotional by Guideposts and
Zondervan]
Why We Worship
Worship can turn the most miserable
circumstances into a wonderful time. In the book of Acts
we read of Paul and Silas, who were beaten and
thrown into a cold, dark, stinking dungeon for
preaching the gospel. But at midnight Paul and Silas
began singing praises to God. They worshiped the
Lord. As they sang, an earthquake came, and the
entire prison fell apart. (Talk about bringing the
house down.)
Its wonderful when you can be lifted
up through worship. Im not talking about
mind over matter; Im talking about faith over
circumstances. Im not talking about positive thinking;
Im talking about honoring God, who is still on
the throne no matter what youre going
through.
God may deliver you immediately from your
situation as He did with Paul and Silas. Or He may
not. Sometimes when you worship the Lord, your
problems dont go away, but they dont seem as
significant. Its not because your problems have
disappeared. Its because you have reevaluated things.
As you worship the Lord and think about His
glory, His power, His splendor, and His love, then
you see Him in perspective.
The word worship comes from an old
English word that means worthship. We should
worship God because He is worthy. No matter what
were going through, no matter what our
circumstances may be, God merits our worship. The Bible
says, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever (Psalm 118:1).
We worship God in spite of our circumstances,
in spite of what were going through, because
God merits and deserves our worship. And He is
always worthy of our worship.
God made us to worship Him. God made us
to bring Him pleasure. And God is pleased when
we worship Him with a proper heart. [Greg
Laurie from Harvest Ministries;
https://www.harvestdaily.com re parallel passage in Psa. 118:1]
ILLUSTRATION
Why I Give Thanks to God
There are times that, because of Gods
extraordinary goodness, I overflow with thanks. One such
time, I was about 13 years old when I got off at
the wrong stop while traveling to see my aunt.
It was supposed to be a simple and very short
trip across the ocean, from one island to the
next. But I got off at the wrong port.
At the time I didnt realize that the
island had two ports, and I picked the wrong one.
It was around 3 pm in the afternoon, and
everyone who disembarked with me was picked up. I
didnt think anything about it until I realized
that it was about 6 pm. At the time, the little
flip phone I had was unable to make calls, and I
wasnt receiving calls either.
I sat there until it was about 10 pm. I
tried calling my aunts house several times with
a payphone until I ran out of quarters. A
family drove into the lot and exchanged their
vehicle for another one. When the mom spotted me
sitting there, she stopped the car and asked me,
Do you know where the person that was supposed
to pick you up lives?
Despite my fear and the gnawing in my
belly, I decided to accept the lift. They took me
straight there.
That night before I went to sleep (after
being scolded by every possible family member from
near and far), I thanked God for his goodness.
Anything could have happened to me. But
God. I was sitting by the side of a closed
building while the sun descended. It was literally a
dead end, just a parking lot full of cars. And
yet, Gods love is enduring. It is particular.
Do you understand what that means? It means
that, he loves you. And his love never ends.
All your earthly relationships, the love
of your mama or husband or fianc will never,
ever be able to compare to the enduring love of
God.
This is why I give thanks. When I look
back on his goodness over my life that night, I
have to give my God thanks and praise. I could
have easily become a statistic. I would have been
another unsolved murder or just disappeared without
a trace, but God.
Look at your life and honestly ask
yourself, Are you truly thankful for all that God
has done, is doing and will continue to do for
you? If we are honest, we know that the answer is
no. Every day is a gift, an opportunity that we
have been given to thank God for his goodness and
his enduring love.
It pays to remember that there is none
who is good and no one that seeks after God
(Romans 3:10-11). This is why we shouldnt
downplay or take for granted the goodness of God. He
is a good God and he alone can carry the title
of good. He is the definition of the word
good and he is our father. Im thankful for all
that he has done and will continue to do, are
you? Then give him the glory that is due him.
Dear Jesus, Right now, I want you to know
just how thankful I am that you are my God. I am
so grateful that you are so good to me and that
the love you have for me is enduring. In
Jesus name, Amen. Keneesha Saunders-Liddie
CLOSING THOUGHT
I read a story about a priest who was
walking the shores of a lake with his uncle. They
watched the sun rise, and for a full twenty minutes
the two men scarcely spoke. As they resumed
their walk, the priest noticed his uncle was
smiling.
"Uncle Seamus," he said, "you look very
happy."
I am."
"How come?"
"The Father of Jesus is very fond of me."
He's fond of you, too, dear friend.
Do you find this hard to believe? You
think I'm talking to someone else? Someone who is
holier, better, nicer? Someone who didn't screw up
his marriage or mess up her career? Someone who
didn't get hooked on pills or porn or popularity?
I'm not. I'm talking directly to you. I'm
saying the greatest news in the world is not that
God made the world but that God loves the world.
He loves you, and his love for you will not
fade if you lose your way.
You have never lived one unloved day.
[You Can Count On God by Max Lucado re parallel
passage in Psa. 136:1]
LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY
Psalm 136 - Praise God for His Goodness and
Everlasting Love.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2011/20110619-1623.html
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
https://abible.com/links/
