Psalms 145:7-20 - Homiletics

The goodness of God.

As the years increase we are inclined to review the past rather than forecast the future. What shall we dwell upon as we look backward? We should cherish not the recollection of past troubles and difficulties, but "the memory of God's great goodness" ( Psalms 145:7 ). And we do well to extend the field of observation beyond our own experience, and regard—

I. THE VAST BREADTH OF HIS BENEFICENCE . " All his works praise him," for he is "good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." On whom doth not his light arise? He makes his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. "The eyes of all wait upon him," etc. ( Psalms 145:15 , Psalms 145:16 ). To his care the insect owes its hour of pleasure, and to his goodness the strong beast of the forest its strength and swiftness, and to his skill and his remembrance the bird of the air its flight and its song. We, too, ascribe our life, our health, our comforts, our domestic joys, our social happiness, our intellectual delights, our spiritual satisfactions, to the bounties of his hand and the kindness of his heart of love. There is no living thing whose powers and whose pleasures do not testify of the goodness of the beneficent Creator. "All his works praise him" ( Psalms 145:10 ).

II. HIS PITIFULNESS AND HIS TENDERNESS . ( Psalms 145:8 , Psalms 145:14 .)

1. "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion." This is another utterance of that invaluable truth contained in Psalms 103:1-22 .," Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him" (see Exodus 3:7 ; Joel 2:18 ). It is one of the truest comforts in suffering and in sorrow that we are pitied by our Divine Savior; that he feels with us in our grief; is "full of compassion" for us. The presence of pure and strong human sympathy is, in itself, an assurance of the Divine; but we are thankful for this clear and express statement of it.

2. The Lord is gentle toward us. He looks upon those that have fallen into error, into fault, into disgrace, into defeat, and he "upholds them;" he regards those that are "bowed down" in sorrow, in weakness, in discouragement, that can "in no wise lift themselves up," and he "raises them up" (see Luke 13:11 ). The compassion shown by our Lord during his earthly life, his pity for those who were faint and hungry, and for those who were diseased, and for the children of sorrow, is the best assurance, as it is the perfect manifestation of the compassion of the Father himself; while "the gentleness of Christ" in all his treatment of those that were down and that were despised is, and will ever be, the most exquisite illustration of "the gentleness of God" ( Psalms 18:35 ; 2 Corinthians 10:1 ).

III. HIS PATIENCE AND FORGIVENESS . ( Psalms 103:8 .) He is "slow to anger, and of great mercy."

1. The patience of God was illustrated in his forbearance with his rebellious people in "the days of old;" the patience of Jesus Christ was shown in his treatment of his disciples who were so "slow of heart to learn," not only what the prophets had spoken, but what their own Master taught them ( Matthew 15:17 ; Matthew 16:9 ). The patience of our Lord is exemplified in his bearing toward us, whom, notwithstanding all our imperfections, he regards as his friends and fellow-laborers. Now, as before, he is "slow to chide, and swift to bless."

2. He is of "great mercy," pardoning those who have done the worst things, who have gone the furthest or stayed the longest away from him.

IV. HIS RESPONSIVENESS . ( Psalms 103:18-20 .)

1. He is very near in spirit and in sympathy to those who reverently and inquiringly draw near to him, so that those who seek him may feel that he is not afar off, but "very present" with them; nearer to them than they to one another.

2. He hears and answers his people's prayers; he interposes on their behalf. He gives them their hearts' desires; he saves them from all spiritual evil; he causes them to triumph; he preserves those who love him in their faith and in their love, and therefore in their joy and in their hope. He gives to them the heritage of the holy, here and hereafter.