Building a tabernacle of meeting: The Goodness of God

I have always believed that God is infinitely good.  I cannot remember ever questioning that.  It just never made sense to think that a perfect God is anything less than perfectly good.  Despite all the bad and heartbreaking things I see, hear and even experience at the moment, I have to come back to the core of the matter – God’s character.  He is and remains infinitely good and every step He takes with mankind is meant for good, even if I from my perspective at a particular moment in time cannot see what the good is behind the moment that I perceive as ‘bad’.  In Romans 8:28 we read the following: 

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. NKJ

In Hebrews 11:1 we read that faith is the substance of things we hope for – the evidence of things NOT seen.  In other words, in the context of God’s goodness in moments when ‘bad’ things happen, faith is the evidence of the fact that we believe God is good – even in those moments when ‘bad’ things happen, and we cannot see the good.  Faith is what gives our hope substance, it causes us to KNOW that ALL THINGS work together for good for those who love God… 

It is here in this place of faith that I can build – ‘a tent of meeting’, like David did in Psalm 27. 

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
² When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
³ Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
⁵ For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

⁶ And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
⁸ When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
⁹ Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
¹⁰ When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
¹² Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
¹³ I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

It is when we struggle to see God’s goodness from our human perspective, that we need to retreat into our tent of meeting with Him – seeking His face, in faith believing that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Unless we do that, we will lose heart.

Let us therefore sing and declare God’s goodness, let us praise Him and exalt Him above our fears and doubts.  Let us bring sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle declaring the goodness of God.

©HG Venter Jan 2021

 

Good, Good Father

Casting Crowns

 ©HG Venter Jan 2021