“Problems” are the colors of the canvas that God chooses to paint His promises on

I needed this. It was a good slap in the face and a good kick in the pants. 

November 13, 2015

Worship: Untitled Hymn by Chris Rice

Chris Rice – Untitled Hymn (Come To Jesus)Lyrics

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden’s lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain, so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby
Don’t be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk
Sometimes we fall...so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can’t contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory’s side, and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live! 

Lyrics http://www.anychristianlyrics.com/index.php?cmd=6&recid=41

Video: https://youtu.be/0_hV8L65Rqo

Witness:

These are unsettling days. I have been getting too little sleep. Working on getting a new computer, but frustrated in the meantime. All around chaos seems to be taking place. Today terrorists killed at least 140 people in Paris, France.  It hardly seems as if “goodness and love” can be seen anywhere in the world or in the lives of some of us. Yet we are reminded that whether in the valley or at the table, our Good Shepherd is with us. When we forget, we wander. When we forget we fret. When we forget, we lose the sense of His presence and only feel fear in the presence of our enemies. Today I was reminded of His presence in the small and seemingly coincidental. I sat down to read a journal entry from a month ago. The Witness section began with me sharing that I had to put down one of my dogs that day. Today I picked up the urn with the remains of her ashes. Coincidence or comfort? Happenstance or holy appointment? I choose to see the latter. It wasn’t chance that brought me to the words of the hymn “My Hope is Built (The Solid Rock)” in this day of unrest.

                                               

His oath, His covenant, His blood,

Support me in the whelming flood.

When all around my soul gives way,

He then is all my Hope and Stay.

WORD:

Ps 23:5-6 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. NIV

Ps 23:5-6 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. KJV

Let us take a brief look at these two words “goodness” and “love”. Both words have a breadth of meaning, but the latter is more complicated, so I will deal with the former first. A simple look at Strongs yields this:   

   

OT:2896 bof ‎towb (tobe); from OT:2895; good (as an adjective) in the widest sense

 (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

 Vines has this to say:

GOOD

tob OT:2896, “good; favorable; festive; pleasing; pleasant; well; better; right; best.” This word appears in Akkadian, Aramaic, Arabic, Ugaritic, and Old South Arabic. Occurring in all periods of biblical Hebrew, it appears about 559 times.

This adjective denotes “good” in every sense of that word.

(from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

The context will determine how it should be translated. I cannot help but believe that the context of this passage demands that all the meanings of “goodness” are meant. Surely this is what is meant here. The Apostle John declares of our Lord and Great Shepherd:

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16 NIV

Oh to have such grace following us all of our days. Am I looking for this promise or am I looking only at the problem? Problems are meant to highlight and point to the promises. What do I mean? What do you See→ Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.
Nothing? 
Really? 
This is what I wrote:

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life

You see I wrote the same verse twice. Both were written in white lettering, but you can only see it when contrasted with a black background. This I hope illustrates what I mean when I said, “Problems are meant to highlight and point to the promises”. “Problems” are the colors of the canvas that God chooses to paint His promises on. Will you allow God to paint His blessings on the canvas of your life with brush strokes of His Grace?