"Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (Psalm 107:8)
There are times in a person's life when he might respond to the psalmist, "What goodness?" Have you ever noticed how the badness jumps out at you, and at times you have to search for the "goodness?" But the "bad" is really relative, isn't it? Most of us in America endure job termination, sickness, broken relationships, some even due to their commitment to Jesus Christ, loss of a life's savings, depression, while Black People and First Nations people in America have known murder and suffering which no white American has. Even so, some of the most positive, "give thanks" messages have come from what was once called "Negro Spirituals," from people suffering the pain and humiliation of slavery. And who could ever begin to describe the suffering of our First Nations people? Then there are the followers of Jesus Christ in most of the world, suffering the pain of an unspeakable poverty, depravation, watching loved ones carted off to suffering, torture, and death. While I cannot imagine their suffering, Jesus breathes His Word to them just as He does to me, "Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" The God-Breathing Word is universal.
Pope Benedict said in a recent advent message, "For populations worn out by misery and hunger, for throngs of refugees, for those who suffer grave and systematic violations of their rights, the Church is as a sentinel on the mountain of faith and she announces to them: 'Behold your God! The Lord your God comes in power.' This prophetic announcement is realized in Jesus Christ. He, with his preaching and then with his death and resurrection, fulfilled the ancient promises, revealing a deeper and more universal perspective."
If you are in great pain today, "lift your vision higher." Get out of the "badness" perspective and adopt a "universal perspective." Then you will see His "goodness, and wonderful...works."
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to keep that "universal perspective." Amen.
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"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
