A very good morning to you my precious family and friends, trust that you had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour
As we all draw near to the end of a very difficult year having been affected by the Corona virus and the ripple affect thereof, Psalm 100 verse 5 says “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”
The author of Psalm 100 invites all God's people to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. We are summoned to come into His holy presence with songs of praise and hearts of thanksgiving. We do not need to look for a reason to praise the name of the Lord. He is the great Creator. He is God Almighty. Verse 5 explains why we are to worship our God with thanksgiving and praise. The attributes of our great God are many indeed but the Psalmist focuses on three of them in explaining why God should be worshipped.
First God is good and because of that we benefit from His creation and every good gift that comes from Him. James 1 verse 17 says "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.”
When we think about the blessings we daily experience from God can any of us doubt His goodness toward us?
Next we worship God with thanksgiving and praise because of His love or mercy toward all men. How else can we explain Jesus Christ without recognizing the great love God has for mankind (see John 3:16)? That Christ became sin for us so that we could be reconciled to God is the greatest love story in the history of the world. God’s love never ends and we know from Romans 8 verses 31-39 that we can never be separated from God’s love.
The final reason as to why we should worship God is because of His faithfulness which continues through all generations. We depend upon the promises of God to live our lives because His commands guide us perfectly through this complicated and dangerous world. Hebrews 13 verse 6 reminds us Jesus Christ will never forsake us or leave us so we can be absolutely certain of His continual presence in our lives.
As believers, we know His goodness, love, and faithfulness, and can therefore trust Him always and absolutely nothing will keep us from entering the worship assembly with thanksgiving and praise – even in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic.
He created us in His own image and breathed His breath of life into us, the moment we trusted Christ for the forgiveness of sin. He is our Shepherd, and we are His people. We are the sheep of His pasture for He is our Heavenly Father.
By grace, through faith in Christ, believers have access into the very presence of Almighty God. How thankful we should be that we are His people.
The Lord is good. He is merciful, and He is faithful. What a glorious triplet of gracious attributes to ascribe to the Great, Almighty, Sovereign, Powerful, Righteous God. His goodness is eternal. His mercy is everlasting. His faithfulness spans every generation of mankind.
His loving-kindness touches the life of every person and affects every nation and tribe and people and tongue. In His goodness and grace, He causes the sun to rise on the evil, as well as those who have been declared righteous by faith. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. He is the Father of all mercies and is indeed, a good and gracious God. He is our good, merciful and faithful God, whose promises cannot be broken and Whose Word can be trusted implicitly.
As we reflect on 2020, let us with thanksgiving, remember all God’s goodness and His covenant of grace - into which we believers have been brought, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us reflect in joyous wonder on our merciful Father, and praise the name of our faithful God, forever and ever.
He Himself is our God and Saviour. He made us, and we belong to Him. He knit us together in our mother's womb and scheduled every day of our lives. Let us as we enter 2021, enter His gates with thanksgiving and praise His wonderful name. Let us bless the God of our salvation, for He is good, His lovingkindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness stretches into the eternity of eternities.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, You truly are a wonderfully merciful God, and I praise You for Your faithfulness, kindness, goodness and grace. I pray, that I will never lose the sense of awe and wonder of who You are and what You have done for me. In a world of change and undependability, thank You, dear Father, for being sure, steadfast, and faithful. In a time when everyone seems to want something from me or out of me, thank You, dear Father, for repeatedly and consistently blessing me. Thank You for being more enduring than the mountains and more glorious than the most beautiful sunrise. In the precious name of Jesus, Your Son. Amen.
Much love to you in Christ and a happy 2021 as we look unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith, from Maurice and Margaret.
