God has been so good

     

The story is told about a little boy who had been invited to a friend’s birthday party. He was so excited and started counting the days until the party. But the morning of the party he was devastated when he found that a blizzard had struck their little town. The snow was falling in wet, heavy flakes. “I don’t think you should go to the party,” his father said. The little boy was so disappointed.

He began to importune his father, begging to be allowed to go. Finally, much to his surprise, his dad said, “All right, you can go to the party.” The little boy bundled up in his hat and coat and started down the street to his friend’s house. When he got to the door, he turned around and saw his father turning to walk back home. It was then he realized that his father had been walking behind him all the way to make sure he was safe.

Psalm 37 was written by David when he was an old man. As he wrote the psalm, it’s likely he pondered the path he had traveled on his journey of life. Looking through a rear view mirror on the meandering highway from where he was coming, he drew some conclusions based on his tenure in walking with God. The conclusions are based on observations and his own personal experience.

In the Psalm David provides factual conclusions concerning the faithfulness of God. He says “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, ...Depart from evil and do good; And dwell forevermore. For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off” (Ps 37:25-28).

As he writes the psalm, David thinks about the God who has been with him from the very beginning of his life. The God of David is intensely personal from first to last. David knows that “It’s not just that God created everything, he created me. It’s not just that God is everywhere, he is with me everywhere. It’s not just that God knows everything, he knows everything about me”.

God has been with him from the time he was conceived in his mother’s womb. In Psalm 139 he wrote “my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place…your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Ps.139:13-16). In the perilous hour of his birth, God was present.  

God knows everything about David; he is familiar with all David’s ways. Even the most casual everyday things are under God’s continual notice. David cannot so much as take a seat, or leave it, without being noticed by God. God not only know the smallest aspects of David’s everyday life; he also knows his private thoughts. He knows David’s words before they are spoken (Ps.139:1-6).

 David wrote “You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me”. A hedge is a protective barrier. God has hedged David on every side, so that nothing could come to David unless it first passes through God’s permission. Psalm 125:2 says “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forever.

One day the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” What a wonderful testimony from God himself. Satan replied “does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” (Job 1:8-10).

We may get nervous if we see video cameras monitoring us at all times. Yet our unease is based on the fact that we doubt the good intentions of those who watch us. A child is comforted that a loving parent is watching over him.  In Psalm 34:15, David says “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.”  Our heavenly Father’s constant watch over us is a comfort.

As David wrote Psalm 37, he must have reflected on the lonely nights in the wilderness when as a young boy he took care of his father’s sheep. He fought wild animals to keep his sheep alive (1 Sam. 17:34-35).Looking up at the starry sky he thought about the great Shepherd who was watching over him. God was protecting him from the wild animals that were watching David in the darkness.

He thought about the day Samuel anointed him king over Israel (1 Sam. 16). His seven brothers were perfect potential kings as far as Samuel and Jesse were concerned. So small was David in his father’s esteem that it wasn’t considered necessary to include him in the family when the prophet called them to sacrifice. As unlikely as he was, David was the one.

David remembered how he killed a thoroughly skilled and armed giant (1 Sam. 17:4-7) who had dismayed and terrified Saul and all the Israelites (vv.11, 24) for forty days (v.16). David killed Goliath with only a small stone (v. 49). When returning home the women came out from all the towns of Israel singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with lyres (1 Sam 18:6-7).

Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army.  In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. Saul hurled a spear at him saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice. (1 Sam 18:10-15) David thought of the many victories that God had provided over the years.

There had also been seasons of defeat and great pain. David spent time hiding in caves and the wilderness. He survived assassination attempts and painfully endured relational fall outs. No doubt David never forgot the sin with Bathsheba or the death of their first child. He likely pondered the rebellion and death of his son Absalom. He remembered that sad day when Jonathan a friend who had loved and protected him died (2 Sam 1:26).

Life had produced seasons of great joy and immense pain. There had been many ordinary days along the way as well, but through it all, God had been good. God was faithful to every promise He made to David. Through everything David faced, whether good or bad, God had never forsaken him. His biography was simple: “David became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him” (2 Sam. 5:10).

David saw many things, but one thing he did not see and it had something to do with how God has dealt with the righteous. They were not forsaken and their descendants were also blessed. Who are the righteous before God? One must first understand who God deems as the righteous. You could, after all, encourage yourself all you want with a verse like this when, in reality, it doesn’t apply to you.

Who is righteous? Psalm 112 tells us that “blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments... Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness. .. The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

The righteous will never be shaken, because of his character and wisdom, he will be firmly established. As he trusts in the LORD, his heart is established. When all the flashes of sensual pleasure are quite extinct, when all the flowers of secular glory are withered away; the righteous man’s state will be still firm and flourishing. His good works will not fade in this world or in the world to come.

David was far from a perfect man but his heart stayed loyal to his God. He was deemed as righteous by God himself. God said “My servant David, who kept my commandments and who followed me with all his heart, to do only what was right in my eyes (1 Kings 14:8). David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite(1 Kings 15:5)

In Psalm 71 the psalmist declares “I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of your righteousness and your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits. I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of your righteousness, of yours only. O God, You have taught me from my youth and to this day I declare your wondrous works.

 Now also when I am old and grey headed, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare your strength to this generation, your power to everyone who is to come. ..you who have done great things; O God, who is like you? You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness and comfort me on every side” (Ps 71:14-23).

There is truth that the aged have witnessed that should be shared with those who have yet to reach that season of life.  The aged will tell you that, through all seasons of life, seasons of prosperity and seasons of adversity, God never forsook them. He was with them always. The aged who have seen it must communicate their observations to the younger generation because such truth will encourage them to walk in faith.  

And for you who may not be elderly, but are looking into life’s horizon wondering how you will be dealt with in life, remember the testimony of the aged. God is faithful to the righteous. He always has and he always will be. Should you walk in faith, you won’t be the exception. This is a reality that the aged need to relay to the next generation. Age should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom (Job 32:7). Wisdom is with aged men and with length of days, understanding (Job 12:12).