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“God is Good All the Time”
A homily by The Rev. Alice Marcrum
August 19th, 2007
For those who came to church today to hear about a loving, kind and gentle God; the words from the lessons and gospel readings may come as rather a shock for you. It has been said that ‘words have meaning’ and in today’s readings there is context that many may find to be very upsetting. Such as in the Old Testament reading from Jeremiah, “Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.” Then from the New Testament reading from Hebrews, we heard these words, “Endure trials for the sake of discipline.” As for the gospel reading for today from Luke - that was not comforting, especially when Jesus said, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
However, if you came to church today to get excited about God, then you came to the right place! Let’s begin with the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. Now Jeremiah’s prophecies were given to prepare the people of Judea for Exile from their beloved homeland. This came about through
Nebechadnezzar’s victories over Judah and Jerusalem. The prophecies of Jeremiah are accepted as authentic warnings about the destruction that was about to take place.
When the prophecies were first written down and given to the Judaean king, the king liked them so much that he destroyed them by fire. They were then rewritten with even more prophecies being added to them. In the reading we heard read today, the Lord God is angry because the king and the people want to listen to the soothing words of false prophets, instead of the words that are from His messengers. Jeremiah writes, “They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal.”
In other words, God is still God Almighty. The people and the rulers have sinned and have refused to repent of their sins. Instead, they now listen to false teachers who teach things that are contrary to the Word of God. Folks, as much as we might want to be quiet during this cultural war that our nation and church are experiencing, God’s Word remains the same. The Word of God is a powerful thing to go against.
The people in Jeremiah’s time chose to follow their own paths of morality which caused God’s judgment to fall upon them. Their punishment was exile from their homes. All of this destruction happened to them, because they refused to accept the warnings sent them by God through His true and faithful messengers and to repent. Today, we as Christians need to heed these words of warning. For if the Lord God so chose to destroy His promised land which He gave to His chosen people, how much more do we need to be on our guard?
We need to be very careful about accepting new teachings as relevant to today’s society and turning our backs on the traditional teachings of the Church. God does not change His mind like we humans are fond of doing. If we believe that we are above the Laws of God, we will have much for which to answer. The scriptures tell us that Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets - not to break them.
In Hebrews, St. Paul warns us of what it means to be children of God. He writes, “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts. Endure trials for the sake of discipline. ” Now those are not exactly the words we may want to hear. I mean who among us enjoys heartache and hardship? Yet, the discipline of the Lord is seen by St. Paul as an act of love towards us.
If we are living ‘the life of Riley’ in that all is going our way, then perhaps we need to take a ‘reality check’ on how our relationship with the Lord is. When I was growing up and something wouldn’t work out like I wanted it to or I was hurt in some way; my mother would hug me, then ask me what I had learned. At the time, it was not always easy for me to see the importance of learning through my experiences. I mean some of them were very painful and I just could only see and feel the pain. Yet, over time, I have learned that when life gets hard that is when I come face to face with the Lord. For it is through earthly suffering that we are joined into Christ’s sufferings.
Most of you here today know about my husband’s recent heart by-pass. Although the surgery was a success, we had to wait for several weeks before he could have the operation. During that time, patience did not come easy. In fact, there were many times when my prayer to the Lord was simply “Help!”
Yet, during this time you and many others were praying for my husband and our family. I can honestly say that it was these prayers that brought us through our time of trial. For that I can never thank you enough. Our journey on this path is not over yet, but each day my husband’s strength gets stronger and stronger. Each day I see the hand of God in our lives. It is not a hand of anger and wrath, but the loving hand of our Father God.
Up until my mother’s passing away from this world into eternal life, my mother would encourage me with this scripture, “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord.” I have experienced this so many times in my life. Even recently when my husband was in the hospital, the Lord brought people across my path for me to share His love.
I share this with you, because I want you to know that the God we serve is our loving Father. Like the title of the old TV show ‘Father Knows Best’, well, our Father God knows what is best for us. We who call Jesus our big brother can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our Father God is watching over us.
When we are going through the trials and temptations of this life and believe me they will come, our Father God is walking right beside us. His arm is holding us up and giving us hope through His strong embrace. We can even let go and rest in Him knowing that all will be well, because He is in charge of our lives.
It is our Father God, who not only walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death, but also has given us Jesus to destroy the works of the enemy. If we ever think that what is happening to us is insurmountable, then we need to think again. Our big brother in His own words states, “I bring fire to the earth”. In other words, Jesus is more powerful than anything the enemy has planned for us.
Even when we disobey and disappoint our Father God, Jesus has already made a way back to Him. Remember when Jesus foretold Peter’s denial of Him? Jesus tried to encourage Peter with these words: “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back strengthen your brothers.”
You see, every part of our lives has been covered with the prayers of our Advocate, Jesus the Christ. Jesus, our big brother, knows that we will face difficult and sometimes seemingly insurmountable ordeals and that is why He has already prayed us through them. These hardships and trials are given to us so that after we have endured them we can give encouragement of God’s goodness to others who are also suffering. Today’s trials become tomorrow’s testimonies.
When I was in Uganda, I learned a popular Christian saying. It goes like this, ‘God is good all the time. All the time God is good.” If we truly believe this, then we will see the goodness of our Father God in all things that come our way.
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