Daily Devotional – Inspirational Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:6 NIV The course of thought in this psalm reminds us of a path which, after crossing peaceful plains and narrow gorges, climbs the mountain, and from its top beholds the wide, glorious prospect bathed in sunshine. This is the privilege of faith; only faith can see goodness and mercy in all Gods past dealings, and foresee them in all to come; for that varied fitness which is one great feature of Gods loving-kindness, implies a great mixture of rough with smooth, dark and bright. Surely goodness, etc. These two words, goodness and mercy, are to be taken together rather than over-curiously distinguished. Yet they are not mere synonyms. Goodness is the stream, mercy the fountain; goodness the open hand of Gods bounty, mercy his loving heart. Mercy is not to be taken in the restricted sense in which we often use it, as contrasted with justice—goodness to the unworthy, pardon to the guilty. It is (in the Hebrew) the same word often beautifully Anguished as loving-kindness* (e.g. Psalms 107:43). Goodness reminds us that our nature is a bundle of wants; mercy, that our deepest, highest need can be satisfied, not by all Gods gifts, but only by himself. Faith here employs the great law of experience, and. from the past infers the future.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 11:09:00 +0000
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