HE SEEKS OUR GOOD
The God of the Bible seeks our good. “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?” (Deut. 10:12-13).
Everything God does is “for our good.” He is always willing to give us what we need. It is all there for the asking. “You do not have, because you do not ask” (Jas. 4:2). How many blessings do we miss out on simply because we do not ask? “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you: for everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8). This is a promise from Jesus Christ himself. Those who love Jesus and ask for the things that they need from God will receive them.
So many believers live lives of frustration because they do not realize how much God loves them or how willing he is to bless them. The entire system of salvation was God’s idea. He came up with the plan from the start (Eph. 3:1-11). God designed the plan and God worked out the plan. We did not ask God to send a Savior into the world. He did that because he wanted to. When we understand that, we will never doubt his love.
No one gave God counsel when it came to the plan of salvation. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Rom. 11:33-36). We are saved because God designed a plan and then accomplished that plan for our good. To think that he sought no counsel from anyone is an amazing concept. That means that every aspect of our salvation came completely from the heart of God himself.
No matter how many mistakes we have made, God is always willing to be close to us and to forgive us (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Acts 13:38). He is rich in mercy (Eph. 2:4) and his love is great and endures forever (Psa. 136:1-5). In spite of our sin, our failures, and the fact that at one time we were enemies of God, his mercy toward us never fails. He never runs out of kindness and compassion to show us. His mercy endures forever because he is a great God.
Dewayne Dunaway
