Stay On God's Side

"For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations." Psalm 100:5 NKJV When I was in Bible School one of our instructors used to say when it came to interpreting scripture, “Always stay on God’s side.” He was wisely telling us that there would be times in life when we would begin to question certain scriptures, question our faith, and even the occasions when we would have more questions than we did answers. But he reminded us to always stay on the side of God, knowing that the Lord is good—all the time! So, let’s break this verse down into its three foundational components: (1) The Lord is good. God is good and He is good all the time. Is that just a fun saying or is that a reality that we can build our lives on? I’d say it’s one of the most important of these three foundational components of this verse. Jesus came to do His Father’s will. In fact, He said that He only did what He saw His Father doing, and what He did was good, and it was good all the time. It’s hard to dispute that when we read Acts 10:38, which says, “…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (NKJV) Did you notice what the power of God caused Jesus to do? It caused Him to do good – and to do good all the time. So whatever you’re facing today, you need to know this: God is working behind the scenes for you and His work is good. So stay on God’s side. (2) His mercy is everlasting. This second component is also very important to get deep down into your soul. God is merciful and His mercy outlasts anything you could ever do. When you and I deserved judgment for our sin, God sent mercy in the form of His Son on the cross. When the woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus, her accusers wanted judgment but Jesus offered mercy. God’s power to overcome our failures is without end. “Everlasting” simply means that God’s mercy is perpetual, it literally has no vanishing point, it never wavers and will never go away. God’s mercy will always always always be there for us, without question and without end. Lamentations 3:23 speaks of God’s mercy when it says, “They (His mercies) are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” (NASB) Today is a new day, so if you’ve blown it, simply ask God for mercy and it will be yours. God’s mercy is available to you today. So stay on God’s side. (3) His truth endures to all generations. What’s truth? What is truth to one person may not be truth to another. The only thing that we can ever really put our trust in is the Word of God. People change, fads come and go, opinions differ, but God’s Word always stays the same and we can build our lives upon that truth. Jesus said in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (NKJV) God’s Word can really change the way we live if we’ll just believe it and put it into practice. Knowing that God is good, that His mercy endures forever, and that His truth is everlasting is a huge revelation that I hope you spend the day meditating on. Because when you do it will help you through everything and anything that you may face. So remember to always stay on God’s side, because He will always stay on your side.