The goodness of God 

Yesterday we sang this in church.   As we were singing it the Lord was speaking to me 
I love You, Lord
For Your mercy never failed me
All my days, I've been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

And all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

I love Your voice
You have led me through the fire
And in darkest night You are close like no other
I've known You as a Father
I've known You as a Friend
And I have lived in the goodness of God
I saw in my minds eye myself standing inside a sort of bubble which was shielding me from all the untruth and fear and panic which is going on in the world.  The words of the song were providing a shield , not because of the words themselves but because of the truth they represent.  The truth is that God is good.  He is faithful, He is close, He is my merciful Father who speaks and leads me.  That's the truth.  And if I focus on this truth and shut out all other voices I will be OK.  God seemed to be saying to me that merely listening to and absorbing the truth isn't enough for right now.  I need to be actually physically speaking ( or singing) it out.   The Living Word has placed power in the activity of speaking out words of truth.
Being OK doesn't mean I wont get Coronavirus.  It doesn't mean that I won't die.  But it does mean that whatever happens I can know Him in it all. And I can have peace.
The other thing I 'saw' was that as I stood in my bubble of truth I was then able to share that truth with people outside the bubble. It's as though the bubble is permeable, but only from the inside to the outside and not the other way round!  The picture wasn't just about or for me.  In the picture I was just an example of what I think God wants to do in, for and through all of us. As the church we have an opportunity in these days to be a light in the darkness.  To speak life and hope and truth which will set people free from fear, despair and lies. Make no mistake, God will take what the enemy has meant for evil and turn it into something not merely good, but beautiful and powerful.  IF we focus.  IF we don't listen to the shouts and screams of the spirit of the age, but still our hearts and stay tuned into the still small voice.
The last part of the song is this
'Cause Your goodness is running after, it's running after me
Your goodness is running after, it's running after me
With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now
I give You everything
Image result for surely goodness and mercy meaningWhen I first heard this song ( by Bethel) I hesitated on this last part because something about it feels wrong.  It conjures up an image of God and His goodness hurrying to keep up with me - I'd much rather he was running in front of me and I was following His goodness I think!   So I went back to Psalm 23 ' surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life' and did a bit of research, hoping to find that somehow the word ' follow' had been loosely translated.  But it hasn't been.  The word is definitely follow. Pursue. Chase after.  But in reading around this I discover that the sense might be this - even if I am hell bent on running away from God He is coming after me with His goodness.  He isnt going to let me escape. He will hunt me down with the express desire to bless me. And Im pretty sure that God can run faster than Covid 19 and that His goodness is significantly more effective than hand sanitizer in protecting me from harm.
In previous blogs I have talked about the need to be worshipping more.  Im not doing too well on that score so far.  A tiny bit better but not much.  But I think Im going to download this song onto every device I have and play it all day every day until the virus has passed over.  And as I sing it I shall stand in the truth that God is good and faithful and kind.  He has my blessing and best interests at heart.  I can trust Him with my life.  I do trust Him with my life.  And the other thing Im going to do is to stop commenting on virus posts and reading virus information and instead make a conscious decision to speak health, hope, love, peace and joy on social media.
Here's the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0FBb6hnwTo

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