Surely Goodness and mercy shall follow all the days of my life!

 

Blessings, promises and assurances are always music to our ears as humans. In a world which is full of uncertainties, failures and disappointments these words bring hope and happiness. Things usually don’t happen as we anticipate. Therefore, we are taught to plan well, focus, use the right connections, work hard, use the right skill to achieve what we desire. Yet, it still does not guarantee 100% accomplishment.

We use religious quotes to achieve what we desire. For example, there is this famous verse in the Bible which assures us of God’s comfort, provision and supervision. This is memorized by every Christian. It’s the psalm of King David who acknowledges God’s sovereignty and starts by stating, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I have what I need.” During tough times Christians bring this verse to remembrance and recite it. But does this really make their crisis vanish automatically? It doesn’t.

We tend to use God as a spare tyre in a vehicle or as a parachute for emergencies, hoping that they will never have to use in their lifetime. We wish to live life in our terms, and brazenly demand that God aligns to it and ensure that He guarantees success. Martin Luther condemns this state of mind as an heresy. “The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has every plagued the mind of man, was the idea that somehow he could make himself good enough to deserve to live with an all-holy God!”  

It is written in the Bible “whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” We understand this more on the context of wages we receive for the work we do. But in the spiritual realm the compensation for all the mess we contribute, may not necessarily come in fixed intervals but as the Bible states  we all have to reap what we sowed. Sometimes when we are expecting good we are experiencing disappointment. God has orchestrated the whole thing in such a way that we either demonstrate our fullest commitment and experience His blessings or live in our terms. The psalmist David in the Bible, ‘Surely Goodness and mercy shall follow all the days of my life!’ will happen if we live in His terms. God is a gentleman. He never forces you to accept Him. It’s your choice. C S Lews puts it beautifully, ‘There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will  be done.”. All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek shall find. Those who know it is opened.’

 

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