Declaration of Truth
How often do you declare God’s goodness in your life?
Verse of the Day
‘Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.’
Today’s Devotional
This beautiful psalm ends with a confident declaration in the goodness, faithfulness, and endless pursuit by God for His beloved child.
That’s you. You are God’s beloved child.
There was a tradition in ancient Hebrew culture that if you were invited to dine with someone, it was a symbol of friendship and relationship. The Hebrew people did not extend casual invitations to dine with someone. There was no “let’s go eat together and get to know each other to see if we might be friends”. That was not how they did things. If there was an invitation to dine together, the host had already decided that the invitee was considered worthy of relationship, even to the point of covenant.
That’s the invitation God has extended to us. God invites us to allow Him to shepherd us. God invites us to dine with Him at a feast He has prepared. God invites us into friendship and relationship with Him.
As we learn, each day, to accept this sacred invitation, we must learn to continually declare the truth of God over our lives.
If you were willing, what truth do you need to declare? What would today look like if you said, out loud, “As surely as I am alive today, God is pursuing me today to show me His love and goodness. I will trust in Him today.”? Would that change anything?
Hebrews 4:12 states: “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” What if we allowed the Word, from today’s verse, to cut away our fear, our selfishness, our doubt, our insecurity, our selfishness, our pride, our anger, our offense, our sensitivity, our impatience, our control?
If I have learned anything in the last few years, it is that I should be willing to use the tools that other people use. People who I admire and respect. The Bible describes David, the author of this psalm, as a man after God’s own heart. Therefore, David would qualify as someone who I should want to emulate. And he is showing us here that declaring God’s goodness over himself is an effective tool. He is writing down his declaration. (Another shameless plug for the power of journaling.) We don;t have the privilege of knowing all of the circumstances of David’s life when he wrote this psalm. But knowing humans the way I do, I would bet that he was not without some difficult circumstances, thoughts, and feelings. Because he was human. But even in the midst of those things, he declares this beautiful truth. That God is actively pursuing him with love and goodness. That he can remain in God’s presence today, each day for the rest of his earthly life, and for all eternity.
Those same things are true for each of us today. God is actively pursuing you with His love and goodness. He longs for you to come to Him, to be in His presence, to enjoy a relationship with Him. Today and forever.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How can you accept the invitation God is extending you today?
What truth from God do you need to declare over your life today?
What tools do you need to implement to deepen your faith?