Goodness and Mercy is Following You
God promised in His word, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Even when we don’t feel His presence, see Him moving mountains or understand WHY we are going through great trials or suffering (Hebrews 13:5,6; Deuteronomy 31:6, 8), He wants us to stand firm and be strong through our trying times.
The difficulty usually comes in the mist of the trial or storm when we feel the weight of it bearing down on us. That’s when the “why me?” or “where is God?” questions come to surface. But what I have learned about God, is that He is Sovereign, Omnipotent, Infinite, True, just and righteous in all that He is and do; and so much more than my finite mind can imagine.
When the Lord, our God, permits great trials to come our way it is always with a purposefulness beyond our comprehension. Because He can see the Big Picture, from our beginning to our end. And what we must understand is that what we are going through is temporary. And every trial is another stepping stone leading us toward His perfect plan for our lives. Therefore, wherever you (we) are in your (our) struggle, walk it out in faith. And when you get to the end of it, look back and you will sense His presence, see His handiwork, and know that He was there all along (Romans 8: 18, 28-39; Matthew 28:20).
I recently heard a sermon preached, and in the message, the preacher proclaimed that he was never alone, because the word of the Lord in Psalms 23, says, [paraphrased]: goodness and mercy had been following him around, all his life. I have read the 23 Psalms, countless times, but never had verse 6, resonated and ministered to me, until that day; it was liberating! “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” (v.6). I could clearly see that I was not alone and that the “goodness and mercy” of the Lord, had been following me around, too, “all the days of my life.”
So, if those questions “why me?” or “where is God?” are on the surface of your heart and mind, just look back over your life to see how, when, where and why the goodness and mercy of the Lord, followed you around, too. The same goodness and mercy, of the Lord, will surely calm your troubled waters and help you to know that you’re not alone… God is still there!