What Will Our Reaction Be?

I had written the phrase down in my journal just over three months ago. And when I penned the words I did so out of complete expectation for all that we were going to see God do... not just for us, but in us... as a result of His goodness and faithfulness. Because hadn’t I read it just a few short months before... tucked neatly in the middle of the book that bears his name, Isaiah 30:18, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you....”

But I always like reviewing what’s just before the “Yet”. Verse 16, “You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!”

And hadn’t it felt just like that? The enemies chasing swiftly after us? The walls closing in around our camp? And didn’t we feel it so many times... the fear and panic and stress and doubt?

And yet on a hot, sunny day in California in the prayer room of the church that would become my only child’s home base for ten months, Jesus would stir me to write the ten words my heart would appreciate all the more in reverse... “What will be our reaction to the goodness of God?”

And here, on the other side of fear and panic and stress and doubt, I can answer that with boldness and confidence: praise! The same as it was then, too: praise! Because my worship must not be determined by my position.

I must expect the blessing and prepare for His faithful provision. And then I must execute a plan for how I’m going to respond.

Because all of life is a response to the One who is the Giver and Sustainer of life. And I get to choose, in advance, how I will respond to what He’s saying and doing!

And so we have before us today a challenge: How will we respond to the goodness of God? Because every day He is good! He is so so so good. We owe Him a heart brimming to overflow for all He is and all He gives!