"Gg" God is good...glorious...gentle and and....

[shalom-dodi]

Song: God is Good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Q9YD2PD0o
I love this version because the first time I heard it, they were together much like this. I will post the lyrics:
God is good all the time
He put a song of praise
In this heart of mine
God is good all the time
Through the darkest night
His light will shine
(God is good)
God is good all the time

If you're walkin' through the valley
And there are shadows all around
Do not fear He will guide you
He will keep you safe and sound
'Cause He has promised to never leave you
Nor forsake you and His Word is true

We were sinners so unworthy
Still for us He chose to die
Filled us with His Holy Spirit
Now we can stand and testify
That His love is everlasting
And His mercies they will never end

Though I may not understand
All the plans You have for me
My life is in Your hands
And through the eyes of faith
I can clearly see

God is good He's so good
God is good He's so good
God is good He's so good all the time

Prayer: Lord here we are again. We have come to sit at your feet around your Word. Would you meet us here? We thank you and we bless you in Jesus own name amen.


God is gentle and humble. Matt 11:29
We humble ourselves. 1 Peter 5:6

God is gentle and humble. Matt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Dodi Note: When you think of God, what do you see him like? Angry? Gentle? Loving? A Judge? Mean? Kind?
How we see God, and I don’t mean you Sunday school correct answer either, results in how we approach him. I have spent years inviting God to teach me who He really is. My picture of God was that of a Big Big God, up in the sky watching me, so that when I did something wrong, He could bop me over the head and make me do it right. Many people see God that way.
But the truth is, God is very gentle and patient with us. Yes, if necessary he will discipline us, but it will be done in love and gently.
Any comments? Anyone want to share how your perception of God has changed as you came to know and trust him?


We humble ourselves. 1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
Dodi Note: Whenever I see a therefore, I want to know “therefore what?” So let’s go see.

v 1+ So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
This is a lovely prayer isn’t it?
First we see…The Writer is speaking to the shepherds, the leaders. Eye is our leader here. If you are married, your husband is your leader. We have leaders in our local church. God’s ordained leaders are to lead like a SHEPHERD. Like Jesus. First they are to do it willingly and with LOVE and NOT for personal gain. Sometimes I think the “church” gets a bad rap from some of those TV preachers who want money money money. That does not fit with this description of a Shepherd does it?
He says that Shepherds are not to domineer over their people but they are to MODEL the right way.
I LOVE the reference to Jesus as the Chief Shepherd. He is our model. He was indeed humble and gentle and loving and kind, wasn’t he? There fore we are to humble ourselves (as Jesus did when he went to the cross) under the Mighty (but gentle, loving and kind) hand of God.
We are invited to CAST, which means be actively about it, all our anxieties on him. Why? Because He CARES for us. We also are charged to be alert and watch out for the devil…we are to resist the devil and then remain firm in our faith. Elsewhere it says resist the devil and he will flee from you. GOOD NEWS, right?
We are reminded, something those false prosperity feel good preachers conveniently ignore, because (a) they are NOT good shepherds and (b) they want our money…ha ha, that sometimes we will suffer in this life.
Really… Jesus suffered, right? Paul suffered? David suffered. Actually who can you think of in the Bible who did not suffer in various ways? We will face suffering. BUT we are promised that Jesus Himself will RESTORE, CONFIRM strengthen and then establish us.
WOW, such good news.
To humble ourselves simply means to TRUST in the GOODNESS of GOD and His LOVE for us.
We can do that, can’t we?


He is glorious Lord James 2:1
I share His glory Rom 8:17

He is glorious Lord James 2:1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Dodi Note: The couplet reminds us God is LORD of glory. But it also says we are not to favor certain people.
Glory…. LORD of Glory. What does that even mean?
I tried looking it up in various places. Most agree it is hard to capture the meaning of.
On DesiringGod it says:
So here is an attempt at a definition. The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections. The infinite beauty—and I am focusing on the manifestation of his character and his worth and his attributes — all of his perfections and greatness are beautiful as they are seen, and there are many of them. That is why I use the word manifold.
So here it is in another sentence. The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of his manifold perfections.
In the same sermon, Pastor John went on to conclude like this:
The heavens are telling the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). What does that mean? It means he is shouting at us. He shouts with clouds. He shouts with blue expanse. He shouts with gold on the horizons. He shouts with galaxies and stars. He is shouting. I am glorious. Open your eyes. It is like this, only better if you know me.

That was the best one I could find. But most agree that the glory of God is his revealed manifest presence and includes his LOVE. Have you ever experienced the manifest presence of His Pure Holy Love? There are simply no words to describe it. I pray if you have not that one-day in the near future you will. In fact, let’s ask God right now.
Father God, our Abba who loves us. God of love. Would you somehow help each and every one of us to be positioned and still to receive from you a touch of your manifest glory-love for us? Oh God there is nothing, absolutely nothing that compares to just one touch from you. So I come and boldly ask for all who would desire it, including myself a touch of your presence this week. In the name of Jesus amen.


I share His glory Rom 8:17  and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Dodi Note: This is not so fun…we suffer with him and are glorified with him. Maybe…because suffering is actually a part of life..We can try to remember that all suffering ends. During these months after my husband died, and before that as well, I learned that when I am feeling sad or lonely, if I embrace that with God it only lasts a moment and then suddenly I am aware of God With Me. Like when the sad comes, if instead of pushing it bad down, I say to God something like, “God I am so so sad” usually out loud then tears will flow but the awareness of God with me, loving me comes too and the next moment it is over and I am back doing whatever I am doing.
Maybe…maybe that is in a sense what the author is saying.
Try it next time.
And remember when you feel angry; likely the underlying emotion is sorrow of some sort.


He is God of Salvation Psalms 68:19 KJV
I have new birth 1 Peter 1:3

He is God of Salvation Psalms 68:19 Blessed be the Lord,
    Who daily bears us up;
    God is our salvation.
Dodi Note: Look at the very next verse, which I was not aware of when thinking about glory. But it says…BLESSED be the LORD who DAILY bears us up. God is our salvation.
Salvation does mean saved, as in saved to be eternally with God in heaven but it has other meanings also. It also means: “preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.”
Interesting?

I have new birth 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Dodi Note: Born again to a LIVING HOPE….we are not stuck forever on earth with all its problems and in our bodies with all their issues. We are spirit and we will live forever with Jesus. We even get a new body one day. One that is perfect. When we finish our time on earth because we, who are born again, are promised that.

I LOVE the next couplet.

He is God of stillness Psalm 46:10
I have REST in Him Matthew 11:28-30

He is God of stillness Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth!”
Dodi Note: Be still. And KNOW. Know what? Or really who and what. That He is God. That He is kind, gentle, humble, loving, and available at all times. The One who is exalted in all the earth (or will be one day) invites us to come before him and be still and know.
This kind of knowing is not a head knowing. It is a heart, mind, soul and body knowing. The only way we will ever know God is to be intentional about being still. We need to carve out time to simply “be” with Him. It could be at the beach. It could be lying in your bed. It can be during worship. But we really NEED to be STILL in order to KNOW Him.
And in order to enter a state of REST.
Ever think REST is part of the word RESToration? God will restore us. But our part is to rest all our cares on Him.
Which is what the next portion says:

I have REST in Him Matthew 11:28-30 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Next Couplet:

He is God who answers prayer Isaiah 58:9
I have answers to prayer 1 John 5:14-15

He is God who answers prayer Isaiah 58:9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
    the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
Dodi NOTE: Oh my this is a good reminder. It is about knowing, really knowing intimately God. But look at the requirement given here. We are to stop pointing fingers at others, at circumstance or whatever. We are to cease speaking wickedness.
Instead we are to simply go to God, just as we are in that moment. And when we do, He is the answer to our prayer.
Reminds me of other things we discussed tonight about resting and being etc.

I have answers to prayer 1 John 5:14-15  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
Dodi Note: Key words, according to his will. Remember Mary? She said, “be it unto me according to your will” Really? Out of wedlock, possibility of being stoned to death? But she was willing to say and live “according to your will”. And Jesus…before the cross also… “Father take this cup from me, but nevertheless not my will but yours be done”.
I don’t think the WOF name it claim it feel good doctrine people get the “according to God’s will” part.
Actually, do we?
Hard thought isn’t it?
But if we KNOW that God is GOOD and we TRUST him with ALL that concerns us…we can at least ask to be willing to say “according your will, Oh God”.

And one reason is found in our next couplet:
He is God who Hears Exodus 22:23
I am heard Isaiah 65:24

He is God who Hears Exodus 22:23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. Previous verse: You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.
God hears. Period. God hears. And God hears more than our mind’s thoughts or our words, God hears our hearts calling out to him.


I am heard. Isaiah 65:24 Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.
Dodi Note: I love this. God knows us so well and desires to provide for our true needs so much that before we even say a word, God hears.

And God does not just “hear” us.
He is God who sees (Elroi) Genesis 16:13
I am seen by God Psalm 33:13-14

He is God who sees (Elroi) Genesis 16:13
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Dodi Note: I LOVE this part of Hagar’s story. She was not perfect. Yet God “saw” her true need and met it.

I am seen by God Psalm 33:13-14 From heaven the Lord looks down
    and sees all mankind;
from his dwelling place he watches
    all who live on earth—
Dodi Note: God is NOT looking at us to bop us; God is looking at us to bless us.

Because:
God is good Psalm 100:5
I know ALL things work for good. Rom 8:28

God is good Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Dodi Note: His LOVE endures forever. His Faithfulness also. And God is GOOD!!!!!

Therefore: I know ALL things work for good. Rom 8:28
 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Dodi Note: The only condition is those who have been called. If you are born again, you have been called and responded. Therefore you and I can rest assured that God WILL work all things out for our good. Doesn’t say we will never suffer, but we can know that there is always a good end to our suffering even when we can’t see the possibility of it.

He is gracious Psalm 116:5
I have received grace in Christ Jesus Rom 5:17

He is gracious Psalm 116:5 The Lord is gracious and righteous;
    Our God is full of compassion.
Dodi Note: Grace…compassion. Grace is giving us what we don’t deserve instead of what we do deserve. Loving us, no matter what. Blessing us. Giving us Himself, His Presence during difficult times. Why? He has compassion. He sees our hearts, he knows why we do the foolish things we do and he desires to lead us in his way.

I have received grace in Christ Jesus Rom 5:17  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
AMEN