Scripture
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.
~Psalm 107:1, NLT
Quote
In the midst of soul-crushing difficulties believers must remain focused on the goodness of God.
~Steven J. Lawson
In all of His divine attributes, God is infinitely good. This a foundational truth that must be guarded at all cost: we cannot yield to the temptation of doubting God’s benevolent goodness. Once we begin to doubt His infinite goodness, our faith begins to crumble. I am a history buff and just the other day, I watched the movie of Attila the Hun. Attila was considered a savage and barbarian but he actually spent five years as a Roman captive where he studied the language and their military tactics. Although he acted in savage ways on the battle field, it was a very bright and excelled in military strategy. For a decade or more, he was the most feared man in the world. When he attacked walled cities in the Eastern Roman Empire he succeeded by studying the wall and finding a weakness. Once he located the weakness, he bombarded this particular spot over and over until it began to crumble. Sometimes this took hours and other times it took days but he kept pounding the same spot.
The devil uses Attila strategy, if he sees you doubting the goodness of God, he attacks. Over and over he whispers in your spiritual ear, “God is not good. If He was, He would not allow bad things to happen to you.” He keeps pounding you with his putrid propaganda, “God is not good.” He knows that if he can get you to doubt God’s infinite goodness, your faith will eventually crumble like stones in a wall. We must believe that God is good. If we do not believe God is good, we will not trust His word. Once Satan got Eve convinced that God could not be trusted, he convinced her to trust himself and we know where that lead. Watch him, he is subtle.
NATIONAL WEEK OF REPENTANCE: September 24-October 1
- Every member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, except for one, remained in the locker room as the national anthem played before their game with the Chicago Bears. Former Army Ranger and current left tackle Alejandro Villanueva stood near the tunnel with his hand over his heart for the national anthem, the rest of the team remained in the locker room. I stopped watching the NFL when they gave Tebow the shaft. There is no way I will pay money to watch these thugs disrespect our country. The Cowboys is the only team I watch because Jones says, “If they don’t stand for the national anthem, they can look for a job elsewhere.”
- I must say, “God is good.” There is no way in heaven that I deserve the privilege of preaching the gospel. We had a wonderful service yesterday morning. An answer to prayer for me. I think I preached too long last night but the am service blessed my heart. I am praying for God to show His power and leave us awestruck like the sailors on board the ship to Tarshish.
- I really hated to miss the picnic. June and I ran by for a minute: great crowd and it appeared that everyone was having fun. I do love picnics but we had changed the REVIVAL date once already and I knew I had to put first things first. We had a lot of visitors last night: Edith Bennich, Larry Bennich, Bobby Anders, Milford Fields, Bill Lewis, and Joe’s cousin Denny Morris. Danielle’s parents and grandparents are leaders at Mt. Zion and so is Stacey’s grandparents. Johnny and Helen Furgerson are members there and so are Mark and Carol England.
- Pride goes before a fall. When the Vanderbilt players were calling Alabama out last week, I questioned their wisdom and I know these are smart kids. You have to be intelligent to play at Vanderbilt but it is never wise to count your chickens before their hatch. I think Alabama is pretty good but they are not 66 points better than Vandy. Yes, I know the score on the board was 59-0 but a part from Saban’s mercy, it would have been 66-0. Vandy over-estimated their own ability and under-estimated Alabama’s. They were not ready for the game and Alabama was. It is always best to do your talking on the field. I don’t think Vandy is that bad: I certainly hope they are not.
- Thanks for your prayers and I have an unspoken to add to the list. I put a link above if you would like to participate in the NATIONAL WEEK OF REPENTANCE.