God Is Good, God Is Great, God IS God

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28

My little five year old Isaiah, came into my study and plopped himself in a seat beside my desk, and with a smile looked at me and said as he nodded his head in agreement with what he was saying, ” The Lord is GOOD, … the Lord Is GREAT, … the Lord is GOD.” Up until that moment I had been feeling a little down, until the “prophet” broke in with a word in season! Out of the mouth of babes!

Martin Luther, whom God used mightily with the truth of “The Just shall Live by faith,” to liberate a people from under the tyranny of a works salvation, had gone to bed and stayed there for several days during a time of great despair…he was depressed. After several days his wife entered dressed in black, “WHO’S DEAD?” Luther asked. “Your GOD” and walked out. He got the message! He was not sick because of illness, but because of Depression of heart, he was living as though GOD WAS DEAD! His Wife used the graphic illustration of dressing in all black, as she would for a funeral to get his attention, and he got the point!

A friend shared with me:

If you look at the world you will get Distressed
If you look inside – you’ll get Depressed
If you Look to Him – You will Find Rest…Matt 11:28

Perhaps you are a feeling a little down today, maybe even depressed, not wanting to get out of bed, you have lost focus, you are living as though God is Dead…and maybe like me you just need to be reminded even by the words out of the mouth of a babe, ” The Lord is Good, The Lord is Great, the Lord is God.”

Notice the two lettered word “is.” The Lord IS… PRESENT TENSE… He is Living and He is Present in all your situations and as Lord, He is Master of all your circumstances and He IS-Present tense…. Good… He IS Presently GREAT, He IS Presently GOD! THE LORD LIVES and Blessed be the Rock of my SALVATION!  He is Immutable, He does not change, he is Infinitely wise, He is infinitely good, He is Infinitely Greater than anything you encounter, though it may not seem that way, but “The Lord IS…”

A friend has said to me several times during my illness, that “YOUR DOWN TIMES WILL BE YOUR GREATEST TIMES OF MINISTRY.” He was referencing how through my illness, that God had used it in encouraging others {I would prefer He use someone else – lol } But, all that to say, God can take those times when you are down physically or emotionally, and as He comforts you, He equips you to comfort others when they go through the furnace of affliction {2 Cor 1:3-6 }

We need to REALIZE God is at Work
“The bees make the most honey in the driest times,” a friend has often shared this statement with me.

Because “God makes all things work together for good, to those who love Him and are called by His Name…”  Even our mistakes and sins … the blood of Jesus Cleanses us from all sin … God is at work in your life and in your circumstances even now. Even in our dry times and darkest times God is at work, even in our mistakes and sins… He can work them for good … and make something of eternal value through them … after all He is God.

We need to REJOICE God is at Work
“For it is at work God IN YOU to will and for His Pleasure…”- Phil 2:13
“…THAT when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, But for what it really is, THE WORD OF GOD, which also Performs IN YOU who believe.” – 1 Thess 2:13

“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Eternal Covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working IN US that which is pleasing in His sight.”- Hebrews 13:20-21

The Lord is at Work in our circumstances and as the Good Shepherd He has Gone ahead of us and is working out things for us in the future, circumstancing events and people even as you read, He is always working, l.  In the silence of the forest, beneath the surface the trees drink up gallons and gallons of water from the earth…undetected, unseen but nevertheless true. God is at work … though you may feel like it, but then again doesn’t He tell us, “We Walk by Faith and not by sight…” {2 Cor 5:7}

Maybe, its time for us to come out from under the bed clothes and stop behaving as though God is dead. Shake off the blues with a good doze of REJOICING in the Lord, who is the Lord of our circumstances, the Lord who has taken care of our past, { The Lord who has taken care of our Future {John 14:2-3; 1 Peter 1:4}  The Lord who is in charge of the Present, “…for He Himself has said, I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” so that we confidently say, The Lord is MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME… JESUS CHRIST is the same yesterday, and today and forever.” {Hebrews 13:5-8}

And remember the words of Little Isaiah and THREE REASONS YOU CAN REJOICE IN THE LORD, for…

THE LORD IS GOOD:
“Good and Upright is the Lord”- Psalm 25:8
“For You Lord are Good…” Psalm 68:5
“Give Thanks to the Lord for He IS Good.”- Psalm118:1

THE LORD IS GREAT:
“Great IS the Lord and greatly to be praised.”- Psalm 48:1
“Thou are Great, and GREAT is Thy Name in Might …”- Jer 10:6
“How Great is Thy goodness…” Psalm31:19

Do you not know? have you not heard? The Lord IS the everlasting GOD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, he will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the WEARY and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall: But those who Hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; They will run and not grow weary, they will WALK AND NOT FAINT.”– Isaiah 40:18-31 

THE MINISTRY OF REMEMBRANCE
Little 5 year old Isaiah had come into my study several days earlier and we were going to have a little “Bible study.” I shared with him “3 REASONS TO REJOICE IN THE LORD” – ALL BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER “G” so he could remember, you should have seen his BIG smile as he came to me before he went to bed that night, and with arms behind his back he recited to me Three truths about the Lord… “The Lord is GOOD, the Lord is GREAT, the Lord is GOD!” With that he went off to bed happy and pleased with his ability to remember. And here we were several days later, and the Lord was using him to remind ME. of Three Reasons to REJOICE IN HIM…for He was still what I had taught Isaiah about Him several days earlier of which he so eloquently reminded me of. “The Lord IS GOOD… The Lord IS GREAT … the Lord IS GOD.”  What reasons we have to Rejoice in THE CHARACTER OF OUR PRESENT TENSE LORD.

Let Him hear you now, Worship and Rejoice in Him, “Lord I Rejoice and thank You, that You are Presently Good, though it may seem like it because of my circumstances or how I feel, but nevertheless You are GOOD. I thank You Lord. You are Presently Great. You are GREATER than my problem, You are GREATER than my circumstance, You are Greater than my sin, You are GREATER than my depression, You Are Presently my GREAT DELIVERER, You are Presently my GREAT Comforter, You are GREAT and GREATLY to be Praised. Lord I Rejoice in You, that You are GOD, and there is none greater than You. All things are in subjection to You, oh GOD you are My GOD and I will ever praise You!

How necessary is the MINISTRY OF REMEMBRANCE for those of us who so easily Forget…
Three times in 2 Peter chapter I Peter wrote to “Remind” them of Gods Word. It was not that they did not know, But they had Forgot, and like Peter little Isaiah, my son and my buddy, reminded me of the Truth, and THREE REASONS TO REJOICE IN THE LORD; “The Lord IS GOOD… The Lord IS GREAT… The Lord IS GOD”