Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Psalm 34:8
You are good and do good. Psalm 119:68
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Psalm 27:13
Heavenly Father, as I get older, my eyes strain to focus and hearing requires more intentional listening. But as I wear the lens of the gospel and listen for your voice in the Scriptures and providence, I see your hand everywhere and hear your heart loud and clear.
Thank you for being at work, when we see it and when we don’t; when we sense it and when we wonder where you are; when we feel near to you and when we feel displaced and forgotten. “You are good and you do good.”
My heart is full of praise to you this morning as I savor yesterday’s unmistakable sights and sounds of your goodness. I did “taste and see” that you are good in “the land of the living.” It was a smorgasbord of your faithfulness and grace, mercy and kindness.
A visit to my old stomping grounds of Burlington and Graham, North Carolina yielded a feast of grace, a banquet of mercy, and a buffet of your sovereignty. Driving by the homes of my youth and the graves of my parents, the church of my childhood and difficult places of my life-story fueled a spectrum of feelings. Sad, mad, and glad were all in play.
Father, in all the brokenness, you were at work. In every storm, you never abandoned us. In the hard stories of loss, you were authoring a greater Story of redemption. The barn where I was sexually abused no longer stands, but your faithfulness does. The movie theatre where I came to Christ is gone, but you’ve never been more present in my life.
The hours spent yesterday with my 87-year-old Aunt Cynthia were the dessert of the feast-day. Thank you for using her as an unmistakable display of the truth, power, and beauty of the gospel to me over these past several years. She has shown me how you were/are at work in all things all the time, for your glory and our good. Give each of us eyes to see, and ears to hear, just how good you are, Father. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.
