Psalm 107:1-20

“God is great. God is good. We thank Him for our food. Amen.” That prayer, taught to our young children as a table grace, was one of the ways to teach a truth. God is good. A statement with a following refrain in Christian circles is “God is good!” With the accompanying refrain, “All the time.” All of this is a good reminder of the inherent goodness of our God. This is a matter highly acclaimed as it should be.

There is another aspect that we need to know about God: His severity. When Paul wrote the letter called Romans, he discussed with his readers this dual fact. His statement in Romans 11:22, “Note then, the goodness and severity of the Lord!” We need to consider both of these factors.

An analysis of this will lead us to a greater appreciation of the manner in which God works in us to bring us to a proper relationship with Himself.

• The fact of God’s goodness is everywhere apparent
  • Qualities that demonstrate His goodness (Exodus 34:5-7)
    • Compassionate
    • Gracious
    • Slow to anger
    • Abounding in love
    • Faithful
    • Forgiving
  • Observe them in daily life (Psalm 145)
    • “Since God controls all that happens in the world, every meal, every pleasure, every possession, every bit of sun, every night’s sleep, every moment of every health and safety, everything else that sustains and enriches life, is a divine gift.” J.I. Packer in Knowing God
• The fact of God’s act of severity is also true (Romans 11:22)
  • The contrast of the two factors
    • His severity = cut off
      • When the Jewish people rejected Jesus as their Messiah (Savior), God dealt with them severely.
        • He cut them off from fellowship
        • He used the metaphor of a tree and its branches, cutting off and engrafting
      • His purpose was to make them jealous so they would return to Him
        • This is expressed in engrafting the branches back to the tree
  • This also carries the message of God to Moses in Exodus 34:7
    • “He will by no means clear the guilty”
      • When one continually and obstinately rejects Him, there is a price to pay
        • Now, loss of fellowship. Later, loss of life.
    • God is not impatient
      • He is long-suffering, not wanting any to perish (II Peter 3:9)
      • There is an opportunity now to return to God
• We should
  • Appreciate His goodness
  • Appreciate His patience
  • Appreciate His discipline
    • Whom the Lord loves, He disciplines

This kind of discipline, in which God’s severity touches us for a moment in the context of His goodness, is meant to keep us from bearing the brunt of that severity apart from that context. It is a discipline of love and must be received accordingly.