Benefits of Believing: Lifetime Guarantees
“Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6
(blessings, assurances, guarantees)
We have a lot of things that follow us, don’t we? Our reputations, mistakes, our regrets, even our shame all seem to attach themselves to us and we find them hard to shake off. They follow us and seem to make themselves apparent at inopportune times, whether to others or just to ourselves as a grim and nagging reminder of all that we’re not.
As parents, we would gladly unburden our sons and daughters from those things that would define them negatively and remind them of their failures and missteps. It’s a form of bondage that the enemy uses to keep us from being effective, and it’s debilitating.
But God says differently. He casts our sin aside because He paid the price for our sin with His blood and redeemed us at the cross. Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Our sin doesn’t define us any more. We are made new, the old is gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; The old has gone, the new is here!”
When we become children of God, sons and daughters of the Most High, different things follow us. God ensures that all the days of our life we are hemmed in behind and before with His goodness and merciful love. Psalm 139:5 “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” He reminds us that we are His protected child, Psalm 91:14-16 ““Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
God guarantees us this protection for ALL the days of our life, not some, not most, but all!!
As parents, don’t we long for a lifetime assurance that our sons and daughters will be okay? Believe me, God wants that too- He’s a Father after all.
He’s assured us that if we are His sheep He will care for us, protect us, guide us, accompany us, and provide for us abundantly. But He also promises that surely, SURELY, goodness and love WILL follow us all the days of our life.
The word surely in Hebrew is ‘ak’. It’s an affirmation that means “certainly” or “nevertheless”. “It’s a positive affirmation with emphasis on the expression of a truth: surely there is no doubt.” (1)
Throughout Psalm 23, God shows us all of the ways He cares, protects and provides for us. Then, at the end, He affirms that He will, without question, bless us again (and again and again) with His goodness and loving kindness- always, forever, continually and without fail. God will never ‘fall out of love’ with us. Read that again. God will NEVER not love us. He cannot- it’s not in His nature to not love, because God is love, 1 John 4:11 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”
Oh how we want our sons and daughters to believe this and experience it for themselves!! May they know the Love of God intimately, personally, perpetually so that their life is dominated and directed by it. May it be all-consuming, ever-comforting, and perpetually present and tangible to them. Today, let’s pray for just that. That our dear ones would come to understand and experience the goodness of God and His relentless, unexpiring, comprehensive love for them.
“Oh, gracious, loving Father, Abba. You are the One who loved us before we ever knew You. Father, I pray in your goodness and mercy, You would surround (name) today. Show them Your mighty protection from the things of this world that would pull their gaze from You and would seek to deceive them with promises of fulfillment that will never satisfy. I pray that as in Exodus 33:19, all of Your goodness would overflow abundantly to (name). “And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” I pray that not only Your goodness, but Your mercy would be present in (name)’s life. Show them, Lord, how You protect and keep them. Open their eyes to the spiritual shield around them. Give them knowledge and understanding that Your Sovereignty ordains their steps and determines their days. Help (name) crave Your goodness and Your mercy. Lord, may they live out the scripture of Psalm 23, following You as Lord and Shepherd, knowing their needs are fulfilled, their whole being is safe and protected and that their inheritance in the saints is secure. Lord, God, Almighty, I pray that You would draw their heart to Your own so that they desire and seek You all of their days. May they abide in You so that when You call them home, they will abide WITH You, eternally. I pray these things in the precious name of Jesus, my Lord and Savior, amen.”
Pray without ceasing.
H389 - 'aḵ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (ESV). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h389/esv/wlc/0-1/