“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before You in the light of life. I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done. Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight. The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.” Lord, I did not always walk in the light of your countenance, but I have come to know You and You now sustain my walk with You. Thank You, Lord!

“Delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust in the Lord, and he will help you.  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; and He will bring it to pass.”

I have tasted and I have seen the goodness of the Lord. He has been my provider, my healer, my all in all. I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.” My brothers and sisters in Christ, to know about God is one thing, but when you come to know God it is everything. Taste and see that the Lord is good!

“I cry to You, O Lord, You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Sinners frustrate the plans of the oppressed, yet the Lord is their shelter. I will say to the Lord, You are my refuge and fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” My brothers and sisters in Christ, because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, no evil shall triumph over you, and God’s goodness will overflow you. Keep the faith!

What have you experienced that you know for sure that it was the goodness of the Lord? How long have you waited to experience this blessing? Who sustained you while you waited?  Our faith in God, our belief, that God will allow us to see his goodness has borne fruit. For all that we have to go through, if we remain confident, we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. “Oh, give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy is everlasting.”

God said, “Open your hands wide and I will fill them with good things.” Are your hands open this morning to receive the blessings of the Lord? My brothers and sisters in Christ, God cannot fill your hands if they are closed, he cannot fill your mouth with good things if it’s closed. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord, but too many of us are missing out, because we fail to follow and honor God. “Be thankful to the Lord and bless him, for his mercy endures forever.”

Because of pride, arrogance, and foolishness, too many of us forget the goodness of the Lord; we deliberately overlook God’s goodness. But, at every turn in our lives, there is evidence of His goodness. And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. Give thanks to Him who placed the earth among the waters. His faithful love endures forever. We serve a good God, God is good!

Lord, what is it that I have that you did not give to me? Please show me how to give back to you some of what you have so freely given to me. I am so full of praise for you every day. When I go to sleep at night, you make me lie down in safety, and when I arise to see the new day, you refresh me; therefore, I will praise you from the rising of the sun, to the going down of the same. The Lord’s name be praised!

“Is this how you repay the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you? Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.” Our God’s name is to be praised and not dishonored.

God has created the beauty of the earth for us to enjoy and he has promised, that, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.” Could anyone else give us this promise and keep it? “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, now thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all his love.”