This week we consider the last verse of Psalm 23. Also a wonderful verse to take us into Christmas and all that it means to the believer in Christ. Verse 6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord, Forever”. This is a confident statement from David. As he recalls God’s goodness throughout his life, His leading, His restoring, His preparing, etc., now, with all that practical daily experience, the outcome is certain: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord, Forever.
Sometimes during times of testing and difficulties, we doubt the Shepherd’s love and His ability to really care for us. We think he has forgotten about us. We convince ourselves that the Shepherd must be spending all of His time with some other sheep. We might even entertain the thought of leaving the Shepherd and the fold to where the grass seems greener. Be careful! There is no greener grass elsewhere and there is no other Shepherd who is good and is worth following.
Goodness essentially speaks about what is pure, right, outstanding, admirable. Mercy is a virtue integral to an understanding of God’s dealings with us.
- Showing Compassion: Matthew 9:36: “ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”.
- Withholding Judgement: The Redemptive ministry of Jesus Christ stands out as the ultimate example of that aspect of Mercy. Romans 5:8: ”But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
- Consistency of Mercy: Lamentations 3: 22: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,. his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning”. God’s mercy cannot be exhausted ‘ just as God’s goodness and mercy flow to me all the days of my life, so goodness and mercy should flow from me. That’s what I must leave behind wherever I go. Sir Alfred Tennyson, in one of his classic poems says: ‘Good men do lives after them’. Abraham Lincoln once said; “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. Jesus said in Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain mercy!”
As believers in Christ, we can all identify with the words of the Song: MERCY: I’m living proof of what the mercy of God can do, If You knew me then, You’d believe me now, He turned my whole life upside down, Took the old and He made it new, That’s just what the mercy of God can do. Now I’m alive to tell the story. How I’ve overcome. It’s His goodness and mercy. And the power of His blood. And now David, as He looks forward, concludes his psalm with his final statement of absolute assurance in the Lord, His Shepherd: “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!”
With much Christian love and wishing all our readers a Blessed Christmas,
Anton van Stormbroek.