This evening marks twelve years since I had an encounter with Jesus that forever changed my world. I’ve spent the day thinking about that night and what He spoke to me. He promised me that night that “He had incredible things in store for me”, and then He invited me to follow Him. I said “yes, but you have to give me faith for the journey”, and literally from that moment on my life was not the same as the previous 27 years. I had this deep knowing that He was promising me a life of adventure and fulfillment of my heart’s deepest longings. Longings I had failed to achieve on my own. My experience on this earth dramatically changed after I said “yes”. I can certainly testify to the fact that God not only is still actively speaking to us and drawing us to Him, but He is also SO GOOD.
Immediately following this night I entered into a time of intense spiritual oppression. The devil was desperate to keep me from believing this promise I had just received. I wrestled greatly for about two months following this moment with Jesus in my car, but I heard the voice of God tell me to “read Psalm 31 and read it until it sets me free.” So I did. I read it repeatedly for weeks on end. I got no relief. Until….
That moment. Many of you know that moment when the words jump off the page and into your soul. I read the chapter and got to verse 19 and in a moment I understood why the devil was so after this Promise. If i believed what was in this verse, the evil one would never be able to stop me again. Wanna know what’s hilarious about that. It was true!!!! You see I wasn’t wrestling with the idea that God was GOOD, I was wrestling with the idea that God was good to ME. At least that’s what the devil kept lying to me about, and the truth is, I believed the devil until this very second when I read this verse……
Psalm 31:19
“How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.”
What’s so fun about this verse is that it’s almost identical to what Jesus spoke to me in my car a couple of months prior. And I had read this verse every day for months and hadn’t absorbed its truth like i did in this moment. It confirmed the idea that He had these incredible things in store for me, and the part that was so exhilarating was the last part of the verse that talks about how he LAVISHES these good things on you IN FRONT OF THE WATCHING WORLD. That was almost too good for me to believe. But I did.
It brings me to tears to think about how amazingly faithful He was to that promise to me that night. Especially those of you who know me well and know my story, know that He has absolutely LAVISHED His goodness on me these last twelve years. It’s been almost ridiculous.
And what is His goodness? Well the most simple explanation I’ve ever heard is that His goodness is His glory. Romans 8 talks about the glory that is being unveiled in us, and creation itself is longing for us to discover who we are so the glory of God can be revealed through our lives! I could go on and on about what He’s shown me these last twelve years about His goodness, but I will leave it brief for now.
So let me leave you with the encouragement that this promise is for ALL who fear Him and come to Him for protection. That’s what the verse says. And the Word “fear” does NOT mean “to be afraid”. I am in absolute awe of His goodness. There’s nothing scary about following Him when you finally trust that what He has planned for you is far better than anything you could do for yourself.
Thanks for reading.
Oh yes His goodness is His glory and that glory is being revealed in and through us. How amazing what a lavish God He is.