Pursued all the days of my life?

This is a rather long journal entry. Lately, I have not been able to attain to such length and meditation on things going on in my life or the WORD itself. Various distractions and weariness have taken toll on my physical ability to sit down and write for long periods of time. 
On a different front, I just received news of my older brothers latest health challenge. Having beat cancer, by God's answer to prayers lifted up and the best of medical science, he now faces the other deadly foe - heart disease. He has 3 blockages in his heart and has to decide on bypass surgery or stents as possible solutions. Deeper than that I am praying for his spiritual heart to be healed by receiving Christ as his Lord and Savior. Pray with me for physical and spiritual healing. Thank you! 

My journal entry for:

November 22, 2015

Worship: Surely Goodness and Mercy by John W. Peterson and Alfred Smith

I could not finish up on this phrase without singing this song from my youth.

SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY

A pilgrim was I, and a wandering,

In the cold night of sin, I did roam,

When Jesus the kind Shepherd found me,

And now I am on my way home.

Chorus:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days, all the days of my life;

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days, all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,

And I shall feast at the table spread for me;

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days, all the days of my life.

Verse 2:

He restoreth my soul when I’m weary,

He giveth me strength day by day;

He leads me beside the still waters,

He guards me each step of the way.

Verse 3:

When I walk through the dark lonesome valley,

My savior will walk with me there;

And safely His great hand will lead me

To the mansions, He’s gone to prepare.

Lyrics (some commentary on this song is included on this website)  http://hymnoftheweek.net/?p=1564

Video:  https://youtu.be/tuY4SKOVy2g

Witness:

As I was driving home from the store tonight I heard an “older” song playing on the radio. One of the local Christian radio stations plays classic Contemporary Christian Songs from the past. The song playing was “Lead Me On” by Amt Grant. I was thinking as the song played, “O if only she had listened to these lyrics better, she never would have had gone through the things she eventually experienced – scandal, divorce, years on the outside of the Christian music scene, songs pulled from playing on many Christian radio stations and albums pulled from Christian stores. I still have the album this song was on. Even her album covers were controversial back then, as some complained they were a little too sensual. As I continued to think about this, I began to think about how I was feeling about this line of thinking. I began to look back on my life and asked myself if I had the right to be so judgmental. Was my life one of victory and perfection? Certainly not! I then began to think why we as Christians like to do this? Perhaps, I thought, it is because it makes us feel better about ourselves. We may feel bad about our walk, “but look what that person is doing” and bam! we instantly feel better about ourselves. Our thinking goes something like this, “Yes, we are not where we should be, but at least we aren’t doing what THEY are doing.” Instead of judging others we must follow what our Lord commands us to do.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matt 7:3-5 NIV

Notice, it doesn’t say we can’t help other brothers and sisters in Christ only that we must first examine ourselves and deal with our issue(s) before we decide to help someone else. It should be done with humility (Phil. 2:3-4, Col. 3:12-13, patience (1 Thes. 5:14, 2 Tim 4:2), with love (1 Cor. 16:14, Eph. 4:2), with mercy (Jude 22,23) and with prayer (1 John 5:16).

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

Come on David… “all the days of my life”?  I know about your life. It wasn’t all fields of green and tranquil waters. So what does David mean here? Is he overstating? Is he using hyperbole? Neither of these makes sense, so what is meant here. Perhaps one of the problems is our definition of goodness and mercy. I think it is because we have it in our minds that they do describe only fields of green and tranquil waters. Yet have we forgotten verse four already? I’m sure David hadn’t. Sometimes the most good and merciful thing is to allow one to go through rough times, dark times, times of testing. Laura Story’s song “Blessings” attests to this truth:

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not,
This is not our home
It’s not our home

‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

James 1:2-4, to which Laura Story makes reference to in relationship with this song, says:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-5 NIV

The Apostle Paul says:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Rom 5:1-5 NIV

All three of these people are not speaking theoretically. Laura’s ongoing dealing with a husband battling a brain tumor; James faced the opposition of the Jewish leaders and died a martyr’s death by stoning and Paul could say concerning his life:

Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.   Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 2 Cor 11:24-27 NIV

I will conclude this portion of my Journal with comments by quoting excerpts from two commentators:

Spurgeon:

all the days of his life — the black days as well as the bright days, the days of fasting as well as the days of feasting, the dreary days of winter as well as the bright days of summer. Goodness supplies our needs, and mercy blots out our sins.

(from The Treasury of David, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

           

Calvin:

           

Surely goodness and mercy. Having recounted the blessings which God had bestowed upon him, he now expresses his undoubted persuasion of the continuance of them to the end of his life. But whence proceeded this confidence, by which he assures himself that the beneficence and mercy of God will accompany him forever, if it did not arise from the promise by which God is accustomed to season the blessings which he bestows upon true believers, that they may not inconsiderately devour them without having any taste or relish for them? When he said to himself before, that even amidst the darkness of death he would keep his eyes fixed in beholding the providence of God, he sufficiently testified that he did not depend upon outward things, nor measured the grace of God according to the judgment of the flesh, but that even when assistance from every earthly quarter failed him, his faith continued shut up in the word of God. Although, therefore, experience led him to hope well, yet it was principally on the promise by which God confirms his people with respect to the future that he depended. If it is objected that it is presumption for a man to promise himself a continued course of prosperity in this uncertain and changing world, I answer, that David did not speak in this manner with the view of imposing on God a law; but he hoped for such exercise of God’s beneficence towards him as the condition of this world permits, with which he would be contented. He does not say, My cup shall be always full, or, My head shall be always perfumed with oil; but in general he entertains the hope that as the goodness of God never fails, he will be favorable towards him even to the end.

(from Calvin’s Commentaries, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2005-2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)