God Is Good All of the Time
Psalm 23:6
You know, in the Bible, over and over, the Bible speaks about how good God is. And in today’s message, we’re wrapping up Psalm 23. We’ve been in a series on Psalm 23. This will be our fourth and final message to wrap up that famous Psalm that we know so well. But in the verse that we’re going to today, the final verse of Psalm 23:6, one thing that God just really put on my heart for today’s message is about the goodness of God and how God is good—and he’s not just good some of the time. God is good all of the time. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about today.
You know, the Bible speaks in so many places about the goodness of God. In Psalm 34:8 it says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him.” Psalm 100 verse 5 says, “For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting.” Nahum: “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.” Psalm 27:13: “I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord.” In James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” God is good. Amen. God is so good.
Looking Back Through Psalm 23
Before I jump into verse six, you know, it’s been Psalm 23. Is that psalm really special to anybody in here? I know a lot of people grew up reading and even memorizing Psalm 23. Really where God put this on my heart was from Vacation Bible School. That’s where our kids went through. They had an Irish adventure through Psalm 23. And we’ve been in this and we covered all the verses and today we’re going to the final verse, verse 6.
But in verse one, that was our first message where it says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” And David, he does this beautiful picture in Psalm 23 of comparing a shepherd and the way a shepherd cares for his flock, loves his sheep, protects his sheep, feeds his sheep. And David had been a shepherd. He knew what it was about to be a shepherd and love and protect and care for his sheep. And he compares that to the way the Lord cares for his children, for his sheep. And he says, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
If we were reminded in that message just to ask ourselves, is the Lord shepherd of my life? Is the Lord shepherd of your life today? For the Lord to be shepherd, it starts with a decision to surrender our lives to Jesus. The Lord can’t be shepherd if we don’t give our lives to Jesus, trust fully in Jesus. And then for us that have made that decision, are we making him shepherd today and every day? Are we choosing to put the Lord first? Because that’s who we’re meant to be. We’re a child of God.
You know, the next message we went to verses 2 and 3. It says, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” When we were digging into those verses, that picture of green pastures and still waters—isn’t it such a peaceful picture? When I think of green pastures and still waters, I think of a place of rest. And you know, a sheep, they can’t rest unless they know they are fed. Sheep eat grass. That’s their main diet. That’s their main way they get fed. But when a sheep has green pastures and still waters, they can rest.
And you know, just like a sheep has to be fed and have to rest, as God’s sheep, we need to take time to rest with the Lord. Amen. And we were reminded of the importance of resting with the Lord in the word of God. Green pastures for us—for God’s sheep, we need to get fed, but our spiritual food is the word of God. And it was that great reminder when we read that to remember to take time to rest with the Lord in the word of God. Are you taking time to rest with the Lord?
We live in a hustle-bustle day and age. We also can get distracted from resting with the Lord with all the technology and TV and everything else. But what a great reminder to take time to rest with the Lord in the word. When we do, it’ll bless us. You know, if you’re not taking time to rest with the Lord in the word, you’re missing out on blessings with God. Amen. You’re missing out. When I don’t take time, I miss out. When I take time, I’m blessed. And I love how—y’all ever need your soul restored? “He restoreth my soul.” It says when you get in the word and you rest and slow down with the Lord in the word, he restores your soul and he helps you to walk down the right path. There’s two ways to walk. There’s the wrong path and there’s the right path. There’s a path with God and a path without. When we are resting with the Lord in the word, we’re strengthened to go down the right path.
And we talked some about how sometimes we can struggle to be in the word to rest. Do you ever struggle to take that time to rest? We spoke about the fact that if we know it’s going to bless us to first just make a commitment to God to say, “God, I’m going to with your help make a commitment to spend time daily every day with you in the word every day.” You might say, “I’m committed to you. I’m giving you 20 minutes every day.” And making that commitment will help us.
I’ll tell you what else that I believe has helped me and I think it would help anybody is having a time daily that you give to God. You decide, “God, I’m giving you this time. This block of time is yours.” And barring an emergency, you’re giving that time to God. For me when I got saved what God did in me was I wanted to get in the word and he just started putting on my heart to do it first thing. I do believe for a lot of us if we can give that time first thing it might be to get up a little earlier so you can get to work. I don’t know. But if we can give that time first thing—for me at least—things don’t get in the way because it’s early. The day hasn’t started. But bottom line, find a time that you are, “God, this is my time with you no matter what.” And find a place.
I know I love going—I think about green pastures, that peaceful place. I love having the place where I know I’m sitting down with the Lord in the word. You know, it has changed some over the years, but as of late, there’s the place in our backyard that Crystal and I will go to read the word early in the morning. There’s a pergola, there’s plants, there’s birds chirping, the sun is rising. Find a place and have a plan. I remember when I was first starting to try to take time with the Lord in the word, when I was a new Christian, I would just kind of open up wherever. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s you’re reading the Bible. But a lot of times I would just struggle because I didn’t know where I was going. Have a plan. I mean, take a book in the Bible and just say, “This is where I’m starting and I’m going to read through,” or whatever your plan is. But I do believe this: when we take time to rest with the Lord in the word that blesses us.
And the last message we had was verses 4 and 5 of Psalm 23. It says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.” We read about David saying, “I will fear no evil.” We were reminded about that emotion we all experience, the emotion of fear. Everybody experienced that, right? And has anybody ever been overwhelmed with fear? We talked about that. We have probably all had moments of being overwhelmed with fear. But when we read what David wrote there, who by the way had a lot of things to fear in his life—he was running to hang on to his life, running from the king of Israel for a lot of years, running from his son for a lot of years—but he came to the point where he said, “I will fear no evil.” Why? “For you are with me.”
And I think that was a reminder for me and hopefully for us when we get overwhelmed in fear to remember we don’t need to fear as a child of God. And remember fear of being overwhelmed in fear is not of God. God did not give us the spirit of fear. That’s what the Bible says. And remember when we get overwhelmed in fear, remember God is with you. He’s right by your side. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And it says, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Just like a sheep gets comfort knowing the shepherd is there. They see they hear the voice. They see the rod and the staff. We get comfort and we can get comfort and peace knowing the Lord is right by our side.
Psalm 23:6
Today we’re going to verse six that we are speaking about the fact that God is good and he’s good all the time. I do invite anybody that’s able would like to stand with me in honor of the reading of the word of God. We’re going to read that final verse in this well-known Psalm, Psalm 23. And we’re going to speak to this for a few moments. Psalm 23:6.
The word of God says,
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Opening Prayer
God, we love you and I just thank you for your goodness. Thank you for how good you are. Thank you for how full of grace and mercy you are. Your mercy is amazing. God, I want to just take a moment and just praise you for your goodness. And I pray today as we continue to worship and as we preach the word, I pray you would use it in our lives to shape us and to mold us more and more into your image to live more and more for you. And I pray God, I pray like I’ve already prayed a few times today. If you’ve got somebody here today that’s never fully given their life to you, Jesus. Maybe they’ve known about you. Maybe they’ve grown up in church, but they just have never fully surrendered their life to you and they’re ready to. I pray today would be the day that they place a full faith and trust in you, Jesus, as Lord and Savior of their life. We love you. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. All God’s people said, “Amen.”
God Is Good All of the Time
When I read this about “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,” that word good is what God put on my heart and how God is so good. And he’s not just good some of the time. He’s good all of the time. And that’s the title of our message today: God is good all of the time.
You know, David, he got to that point where he understood that. David had had a lot of moments of being fearful and worried. David had been on the run from the king of Israel. His life was on the line. David had all kinds of reasons to worry. But he got to a point where he said, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” He understood despite the hardships he had on this earth, that didn’t change God’s nature. God is still good. God is good in the good times and God is still good in the hard times. God is good all the time. Amen.
You know, notice what he says. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” When he says “all the days of my life,” that encompasses every moment of his life. And he’s saying every single moment in the good times and the hard times, God is always good. God is good all the time. God is good all the days of my life.
And also watch what it says. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.” Isn’t that amazing? You know that song as they were singing it, the words hit me this time where it says, “Your goodness, your goodness is running after me.” And it over and over in that song, “The Goodness of God,” it says how your goodness is running after me. It’s running after me. I’m not going to sing it like I sang “Be Not Afraid” last week. I can’t sing that song like the choir. But God’s goodness, as it says in that Psalm, it runs after us. In this psalm, it says, “Your goodness and mercy shall follow me.” You know, in other words, God’s goodness—there’s a peace I get knowing that it’s pursuing me. It’s following me. It’s chasing after me. And God’s goodness is here for me and for you. Not just some of the time, but all the time.
Remember the Good Times
Do you remember times you have seen the goodness of God in your life? You know, I believe that that would be a good thing for us all to do today. I believe a good thing that would bless any of us—because the enemy loves to get us focused on the negative and the problems—a good thing for any of us would be to say to take a moment today and just reflect on the times you remember where God has been so good to you.
You know, when I think about God’s goodness and how good he’s been to me, one thing I think about are the times that were just those good times. You know, the times where honestly there weren’t many hard things going on—that there were still hard things, but you know what I mean? You kind of have seasons in life where you have some seasons where it just seems to be going really good. You know what I mean? And in those times, God is good.
I was just reflecting on this this week about times that God has been good and I can’t honestly share them all, but a few that came to my mind in those good seasons was I just think about just growing up in the family I grew up in, how good God was to me to give me my family. My mom and my dad were amazing. I had amazing parents and I just thought God is so good that he gave me my parents. Yeah, my brother and my sisters, we fought but they were still a blessing too. And then I thought about even though there were some times that were hard overall the broad trajectory there were a lot of good years with school, with friends, with sports, just so many good years. And then I went to college and I thought about how good of years those were. Maybe too good. But then I just so many ways that God’s been good. And then I got into a career where God was so good to me out of college. So many ways that God just opened the doors for things and provided things in those good years. And then somehow someway I met Crystal and she said yes. God is really good to me. Amen. My kids always they’ll always say to me they’ll look at us when we were dating. They’ll see those pictures like, “Dad, you were lucky. You married up, Mom married down.” But there’s so many times that God is so good to us. And then I think about how God was so good to Crystal and I to give us our three amazing kids, beautiful kids. God is good. Amen. And some of those times that God is good, then they’re good to remember just even in those good times.
God Is Also Good in the Hard Times
But God isn’t only good in the good times. God is also good in the hard times. If you’re in a hard time, a difficult time today, remember, God is still good. It’s his nature. He is a good, good God.
And I thought about times in my life. I would encourage you to do it with yourself when you’ve seen the goodness of God in the hard times. Have you seen the goodness of God in the hard times? I mean, sometimes those are the times that give me the best cries because I feel the presence of God. I’m like, God, you’re so good. You’re so good to help me with this. You don’t have to help me. I’m not even deserving of your goodness, but you’re still being that good.
You know, as a little boy, my mom battled cancer and at age 13, after about 5 years, she lost her battle with cancer. She died and it was hard. Losing a loved one when you’re a kid is different than losing a loved one when you’re an adult, but either way, they’re hard. And I just remember though through that hurt how good God was. And I want to tell you one way God was so good to me was to give me an amazing father. A lot of fathers could have done something different. But he was left as a single father for seven kids ranging in age from about 8 to college. And you know what he did? He stepped up even more. And he made sure we knew she wasn’t suffering. And I think the best way he led us was as a spiritual leader. And he made sure we knew she believed in Jesus. She is present with the Lord. She’s not suffering. And he did the things a father and mother need to do to take care of their kids.
Another way God blessed me and was so good through that is to give me peace. And if you’ve lost your father or your mother or someone you love, your spouse, and you’re struggling for peace, I just I do I want you to know that God can give you peace. It did. It wasn’t anything I did. God just bestowed and gave me that peace. I just one day just had peace. And I haven’t had tears of sorrow ever again. I’ve had tears of joy remembering them.
And the same thing with my father. When I was 27, he suddenly passed away. A massive heart attack on the beach. And it rocked me. When I heard when I was working down the street in the Boy Scout office and my brother-in-law came to tell me, I screamed and I yelled. I was in shock. And that’s a much different way to lose someone you love. And my father was my best friend. He was my best friend. And man, it rocked me. But you know what God did? Three days later after hearing the gospel a lot of time from this lady and a lot of times from her mother and a lot of times from the churches we were going to—three days after that hurt, God broke me to give my life to Jesus on the same shores where my dad went home to be with the Lord, the shores of Carolina Beach. God used that pain to get me to the point that I said, “I need you.” Where I finally gave my life to Jesus. God can do that. He can use the hard things. And one of the good things he can do is he can bring you to Jesus. Amen.
And I’ll tell you what God also did with that is once again, I went through a month of really a lot of pain, a lot of hurt. Then he just washed a peace over me. It was nothing I ever did. I just realized all of a sudden I don’t have sadness anymore. That’s how good God is.
And I thought about when Crystal and I had our kids. I remember when Greenley was born. We were in the hospital in New Hanover. And I remember it was a couple days later we were still in the hospital and I just had a Monday morning meeting at my old job and I said, “Crystal, I don’t know how we’re going to make it financially.” You never have those times like you don’t know how you make it financially but God always does stuff every time. Because we didn’t have money as it was and now we had a lot of new expenses and we just prayed about it and we said that I was just going to go to my boss in that leadership meeting where by the way those meetings had never started off with prayer. He was a Christian but they had never started those meetings off with prayer. There were me and him and one more. They eventually got to where we were always praying. But they would start the business 8:00 a.m. every Monday morning. And it was me and Doug and one other lady at the time, Janice. We agreed, Crystal and I agreed that I was going to ask him for a raise in the middle of the year. That was unheard of. If you got a raise, it was after you performed all year. It was at your performance evaluation going into the new year and it was maybe 3%, maybe 4%, maybe 5% if you really did amazing. Well, I was asking for about 20% in the middle of the year.
And I remember I went into that meeting and before I said a word, Doug just said, “We got to pray.” Janice was going through some hardships with her parents with their health. And Doug prayed for about 10 minutes, Spirit-filled, and we were in tears. And right after that, I remember saying, “Doug, I’ve got something to ask you. I understand if you can’t help. I’m going to keep doing a good job if you can’t, but we don’t know how we’re going to make it financially, and I’m wondering if somehow you can help me with a raise.” And he’s like, “What are you thinking?” And I said, “$10,000 more dollars.” And he said, “Let me do it. Let me see what I can do.” And he came back minutes after the meeting said, “I’m going to give you 12,000.” I said, “God is good.” I mean, and I cried and I praised God.
And I remember answering the call to preach, going into darkness, the enemy getting me into the complete darkness, not able to get out of bed, not able to work, not able to have peace ever, total agony every second of the day. And you know how good God is? He lifted me out of it completely. Like a light switch came back on after 6 months. He just gave me joy. God is good. And he’s not just good some of the time. He’s good all the time.
Take Time to See His Goodness Right Now
Do you remember those times God is good? Take some time to remember the times God has been good to you. I know you’ll find times God has been good to you. Not just in the good times, but also in the hard times. And I want to say this. Are you taking time to see the goodness of God in your life? Sometimes in the midst of struggles, we can get so caught up in the struggles that we forget the blessings. David said, “My cup runneth over,” and he went through it. Are you taking times to remember the goodness of God through those struggles? God is good all the time. He’s still with you in those struggles.
You know, God can use that struggle and that difficulty for good. God could use that struggle to lead somebody to salvation that you’re going through. God could use that struggle that you’re going through to get you to get out of being stagnant and grow in your relationship with Jesus to say, “I need you, Lord. I need help.” God could use that struggle you’re going through so you can better minister to somebody else going through a similar struggle. God can use that.
Take time. What a great reminder to take time to reflect right now. Not just in the past, but right now, think about the good things God is doing for you. Because even if you’re in a hard time, even if you’re in a difficult season, there are still some ways God is being good to you. Because God isn’t good some of the time. God is good all of the time.
You know, I do believe this with all my heart. It does us good. It’s healthy for us when we take time to thank God for his blessings that he’s given to us. Amen.
I Will Dwell in the House of the Lord Forever
Now the second part of this verse, I think it talks about the best way God is good to us. He’s good to us on this earth. He’s good to us all the days of our life. He’s good to us in good times and in hard times. But you know the best part? God is so good that he made a way for us to spend eternity in heaven with him. It says, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” David knew. He knew he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Do you know that today? Do you know that if you were to die today, you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever? Are you confident you’re saved? Do you know that you are going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever? If you don’t know, you can know. You can know by giving your life to Jesus Christ. You can have a confidence when you give your life to Jesus.
In 1 Chronicles 22, David, it talks about he wanted to build a house, a sanctuary for the Lord, but God said, “You’re not going to.” But he prepared and his son Solomon built the house. And that sanctuary, that temple was beautiful. The way it’s described in the Bible, it was glorious from a standpoint of earth. But as amazing and as beautiful as that architecture or that building was, it doesn’t even touch the glory that we will experience when we dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen. We can’t even imagine. The Bible says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those that love him.” We can’t even imagine the glory that awaits.
Revelation 21: John says while he’s in exile on Patmos Island, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” God’s going to wrap up this old earth. It’s going to fade away and God’s going to bring in a new heaven and a new earth. It’s going to happen and it’s going to be glorious. It’s going to be more than any of us can imagine. And it says in Revelation 21:3–5, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. God will dwell with us in his fullness, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God.” In verse four, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” These struggles you got today, you’re not going to have them in heaven. If you go to heaven, you got to give your life to Jesus or you will not go to heaven. These pains that you got, those body aches you got, those hurts that you got, those struggles that you got, that sickness that you got, that death that you see—it’s going to be no more. It’s going to pass away. Amen.
Revelation 21 verses 9–21 talks about the new Jerusalem. Go back and read Revelation 21. It’ll get you excited about heaven. There’s a lot we don’t know, but what we know is glorious to read about, think about. But it talks about the new Jerusalem. There’s going to be a capital city on the new heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem. And it says in verse 11, “Having the glory of God, her light was like the most precious stone.” When I think about a light from a most precious stone, I think about this beautiful brilliance that radiates. It says in verses 22 and 23, “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it.” That’s going to be the best part, being in the presence of the Lord in this fullness. And when I think about the glory of the Lord, I think about the way that God is just going to illuminate it. I think about the glory of God. Guys, we can’t even imagine the joy and the peace we’re going to get being in the presence of God that way.
I’ve told many of y’all the moment I answered the call, there was brilliance everywhere. It was not from this earth. It was heavenly. And all I can say is I can’t explain it fully other than it was amazing. I was in complete awe, complete joy, complete peace. Nothing else mattered. I was just in awe. And I know it was the glory of the Lord because there’s no other way to describe the presence of it. Might have been a split second, but I don’t know how long it was. But guys, when I think about that moment or two or however long it was when I didn’t think I didn’t see anybody because I didn’t hear—all I could see was the glory of the Lord. All I could think it was an indescribable peace and joy. Heaven’s going to be more than we can imagine. It’s going to be more than you or I could ever imagine. It’s going to be glorious.
And God is so good that he makes someone as sinful as me be forgiven when I trust him. He does that for you, too. As sinful and as flawed and as filthy as you are—we look at other people’s sin and we might say, “This person’s awful. Look what they did. They did this or they did that.” You’re still filthy. I’m still filthy. But God is so good. He will forgive anybody. When they have sin, he will forgive them. He will forgive you when we give our lives to Jesus.
The Greatest Goodness of All
You know, I hope that we all today know that God is good and he’s good all the time. And I especially hope today that if you’re here today and you never fully given your life to Jesus, that you know most of all God is so good because he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for your sins, for my sins. Jesus came down from heaven to this earth and he came to die for you and me. He suffered for you and me. He went like a sheep to slaughter and he allowed them to nail him to the cross. He was God in the flesh and he gave up the one and only perfect sacrifice that can be made to atone for our sins so we can be forgiven. And he died for our sins and he rose on the third day so that anybody who believes in him will be saved. You will be able to say if you make that decision to trust in Jesus, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord.”
