Lessons From the Secret Place – Intimacy- Lesson 10a: Goodness and Mercy in Christ.
Today we will look at Psalm 23:6a in our study on intimacy with Christ.
Psalm 23:6a, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. (ESV)
In this first half of verse 6, David address two attributes of God: goodness and mercy.
Goodness
God’s nature is goodness. Goodness is the state of being good; the physical qualities which constitute value, excellence or perfection.
God acts in goodness (kindness, favor shown; acts of benevolence, compassion or mercy) toward his children. i.
To say that God is good means that God always acts in accordance to what is right, true, and good. Goodness is part of God’s nature, and He cannot contradict His nature.
The fact that God is good means that He has no evil in Him, His intentions and motivations are always good, He always does what is right, and the outcome of His plan is always good (see Genesis 50:20). There is nothing unpleasant, evil, or dark in Him. ii.
Psalm 34:8, O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him. (AMPC)
Nahum 1:7, The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognizes, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him. (AMPC)
Jesus recognizes us as his own. We have the identifying mark of his blood on our life. We have the seal of Holy Spirit. He has knowledge of us. He knows us like a man knows his wife. He has intimate knowledge of us to our very core. He also understands us. We don’t even understand ourselves at times. However, the God of the universe, creator of all things, knows us and understands us. He knows our innermost thoughts and understands the purposes/attitudes/intentions of our heart (Hebrews 4:12) and knowing us as he does, his goodness is still pursuing us!!
Psalm 31:19, Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear, revere, and worship You, goodness which You have wrought for those who trust and take refuge in You before the sons of men! (AMPC)
Here the Psalmist is explaining that God has a limitless storehouse of goodness, reserved for those who take refuge in him.
No matter what happens in our lives, God never leaves us. In His goodness, He gave us the greatest gift – the gift of His only Son Jesus. Jesus is perfectly good. He is the goodness of God in human flesh. When we look at Jesus, we see the goodness of God.
When we are discouraged or overwhelmed, we can cling to the goodness of God and press on, knowing He is at work because His purposes for us are always good. “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.” (Romans 8:28) God is good all the time and all the time, God is good. iii.
Mercy
God’s nature is mercy/love. That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant.
God acts in mercy, (grace; favor) toward his children. iv.
In his commentary, Matthew Henry lists four types of mercy: pardoning mercy, protecting mercy, sustaining mercy, supplying mercy. I want to take a closer look at each type of mercy using events from David’s life.
First, pardoning mercy.
In 2 Samuel 11-12 we read the account of David’s affair with Bathsheba. David committed not only the sins of adultery, but murder, deception, lust, and covetousness... David, who had been called a man after God’s own heart in 1 Samuel 13, chose to follow the lusts of his flesh.
Psalm 51 is David’s psalm of repentance. David acknowledged his sin and fell on the mercy of God to pardon him. He understood his need of forgiveness and his own undeserving condition, yet with humble boldness he approached God and received pardon. We know this because God remained faithfully with David all the days of his life, even giving him a son with Bathsheba, Solomon, who is found in the ancestral line of Christ.
Webster 1828 Dictionary defines pardon as: Forgiveness; the release of an offense or of the obligation of the offender to suffer a penalty. Thus, to pardon in the Biblical sense is to forgive.
1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (ESV)
Hebrews 8:12, For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more. (AMPC)
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, etc. Observe, [1.] The freeness of this pardon. It does not result from merit in man, but from mercy in God; he pardons for his own name’s sake. [2.] The fullness of this pardon; it extends to their unrighteousness, sins, and iniquities; to all kinds of sin, to sins highly aggravated. [3.] The fixedness of this pardon. It is so final and so fixed that God will remember their sins no more; he will not recall his pardon; he will not only forgive their sins, but forget them, treat them as if he had forgotten them. v.
Second, protecting mercy.
God’s protection over David is found throughout the entirety of the Biblical narrative on David’s life. At every turn David is confronted with danger. One particular event stands out to me now, 2 Samuel 17-18 where David fled from his son Absalom and 12,000 men who were intent on murdering him and making Absalom king in his place.
We know from reading the account of these events that David’s faithful friend Hushai worked on behalf of David in giving advice to Absalom that foiled his plans against David. God protected David by making the bad advice of Hushai sound better to Absalom than the good advice he was given by others. Ultimately, we know that Absalom was killed, and David was restored to his throne.
Proverbs 30:3, Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (ESV)
Psalm 91:1-2, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him will I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust! (AMPC)
2 Corinthians 3:3, Yet the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen [you] and set you on a firm foundation and guard you from the evil [one]. (AMPC)
The saints’ security in God. It is a strong tower to those who know how to make use of it as such. The righteous, by faith and prayer, devotion towards God and dependence on him, run into it, as their city of refuge. vi.
Third, sustaining mercy.
1 Samuel 18 describes David’s victory over Goliath of Gath. David did not learn to kill giants the day he stepped onto the battlefield. He learned how to kill giants through God’s sustaining mercy while tending his father’s flocks in the hills around Bethlehem. God sustained David in his encounters with a lion and a bear. He sustained him through the long, lonely nights out among the flocks. He sustained him in the face of his family’s hostility toward him. And then when he came face to face with Goliath, God once again sustained him as he, a boy, took on a man-sized job while the entire Israelite army, including those brothers who had demonstrated great disdain and hostility toward him, looked on in fear.
Isaiah 40:29: "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." (NIV)
Isaiah 41:10: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (NIV)
2 Corinthians 12:9a: But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. (AMPC)
Finally, supplying mercy.
Like God’s protection over David’s life is seen throughout David’s life, so is God’s supplying for David’s needs. 1 Samuel 23 relates the events in which David and his men, we were in hiding from King Saul, rescued the people of Keilah in Judah as they were being attacked by the Philistine army. Verse 5 says, “So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines with a great slaughter and brought away their cattle. So David delivered the people of Keilah.” (AMPC)
David and his men were supplied with meat for many days after the battle.
This is only one examples of God’s supplying of David’s needs. Just as God supplied David’s needs, he also supplies ours.
Philippians 4:19, And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (AMPC)
2 Corinthians 9:8, And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (ESV)
Psalm 37:25-26, I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing. (ESV)
Follow
Webster 1828 Dictionary defines follow as: to pursue; to chase; to accompany; to attend in a journey.
The "goodness" of God is demonstrated in his abundant care and promises, evidence of his blessing. The "love" of God is his covenantal commitment to bless his people with his promises. Instead of being pursued by enemies who seek his destruction, God's "goodness and love" follow the psalmist. He need not fear, because God's loving care follows him throughout life. vii.
Here David is speaking of God’s goodness and mercy following (pursuing and chasing) him all the days of his life. The implication then is that this pursuit begins at conception and doesn’t end until we take our last breath on this planet.
David also understood that God was accompanying him on the journey of life. He was attending (to wait on; to be within call) to him. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus tells us, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Here Jesus was promising his companionship to the disciples. No matter where they went or what they faced he would be with them. His Spirit would guide, teach, and protect them. The same is true for us today, the goodness and mercy/love of God are with us always.
The manner of the conveyance of it [God’s goodness and mercy]: It shall follow me, as the water out of the rock followed the camp of Israel through the wilderness; it shall follow into all places and all conditions, shall be always ready. [Added by me for clarification] viii.
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