God is Good, All the Time
How often do you tell someone how thankful you are for them? It is often much easier to be critical or cynical of people and situations happening around us in the world today. Sometimes we can even feel entitled, like we deserve certain things that we don’t have.
Even though things don’t always go the way we expect them to in life, God’s Word teaches us that there is always something to be grateful for. God has given us everything good that we have—even the very breath that we take is a gift from God.
Most importantly, Jesus gave His life for us on the cross so that we might have eternal life with Him. The gift of faith and hope in Jesus should lead us toward gratitude and thankfulness toward God.
The writer of Psalm 107 encourages us to give thanks to God always, because there is never a time when God isn’t good towards us. Even in the midst of hard times and difficult seasons of life, God is still good. In fact, Romans 8:28 tells us that God is working behind the scenes to work everything for His good.
The Psalmist also tells us that we should be grateful and give thanks to God because His love endures forever. There will never be a time in your life that God doesn’t love you.
Even when we make mistakes, the love of God still continues.
In Romans 8:38-39, Paul says that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love. God’s love and goodness endures forever.
We should seek to be the most grateful people on the planet, because the love of God will never end. So take some time today to tell God what you’re grateful for. It may be something simple like sunshine, nature, or a specific person. Creating a daily habit of giving thanks to God is an important step in our spiritual growth.
The Best Plans
Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse that’s often slapped onto journals, etched into coffee mugs, and printed on t-shirts.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
And God does have a plan for you.
God does want to bless you.
God does want to give you hope and a future.
But, we should also pay attention to the original context …
In this case, God was speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah—people who’d recently been exiled to Babylon for 70 years.
The Jewish people were banished to a foreign land because of their insatiable appetite for sin. In fact, for 23 years Jeremiah had been warning them to stop rebelling against God or prepare to face the consequences.
God is patient, but He is also just.
In other words, the Jews were sent to timeout. And as you can read in the preceding chapters, God made a case against His ...