However, as I put the finishing touches on this week’s “Quicknotes” I felt a prompting to start typing the thoughts that I was having at that moment.

Here’s what came to mind: To remind the people, even though we say this all the time, but remind you, bring it to the forefront of your minds, THAT GOD IS GOOD TO ALL, AND THAT HE’S GOOD ALL THE TIME!!! That is a statement of fact! And if we believe or even think otherwise, we call Him a liar.

Now you might say, “Well no one’s perfect and I’m just not there yet.” We all have probably said that or something like that at one time or another. But, let me admonish you – please do not allow yourself to be comfortable in that place. When we have thoughts and ideas about God that contradict what He says about Himself, we are in a place that we do not want to take up residence in. That is not a place of faith and though God may tolerate it for a season, He is not pleased with our being there.

There is a myriad of scriptures that proclaim the goodness of God! And the reality of it is, is that it doesn’t matter what we think or feel, and in spite of what we think or feel, His Word is true! Period! And we must believe that, and get out thinking, feeling and our knowing lined up with God. We must not allow ourselves to dilute the truth of His Word, simply because we don’t measure up. And we must stop being so casual about where we fall short. We must work out our salvation. We must examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Do we really believe God? Abraham thoroughly believed and was convinced that what God had spoken to him would come to pass. He did not waver or doubt in spite of what he could plainly see – their old, well past child-bearing years, bodies. God said it and he believed God! God may not be speaking to us audibly today, but we have His written Word that we must believe with that same kind of faith.

I’m so inspired by Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations. He was surrounded by devastation and starvation. But, because He knew what God said about Himself, and he believed what God said about Himself, he was able to proclaim that, “The Lord’s lovingkindness indeed never ceases, for His compassions never fail; they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.” And he didn’t stop there. He went on to say, “The Lord is my portion….”!!!! What a powerful proclamation! He’s saying that God is all he needed! How could he possibly believe that or feel that way when the circumstances around him were so dire? I believe it was because He believed God! He believed what he had heard, read and no doubt experienced with God. It didn’t matter what he saw. It didn’t matter what was going on around him. He believed what God said about Himself! His faith was clearly not dependent upon the circumstances in his life. He knew his God and He trusted Him!

That is the desire of my heart. To live in a place where I believe, evidenced by the life that I live, everything that God says about Himself. I want to trust His Word so completely that nothing can shake my knowing who God is and my loving Him completely. My head knows that God is good all of the time, and I would dare say that my heart knows that too. But I am yet to get to the place that apparently Jeremiah was in. But, I’m so thankful that God is working on me, that I know for sure. And I’m confident that, “He who has begun a good work in me, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

I believe the Lord wants all of us in that place; trusting Him without doubting. As we’re learning, “Abraham believed God…” And God was very pleased with that!

Psalms 136
Psalms 145:98
Philippians 2:12
II Cor. 13:5
Lamentations 2 & 3
Philippians 1: 6