Soul Scientist

Psalm 37:4 AMPC Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

While visiting my parents’ home, I saw a poem I’d scribbled onto the back of an envelope while in college. This poem reminded me of how deeply God planted Psalm 37:4 into the soil of my soul then. I can still remember breathing out that verse as a prayer and breathing in His grace as a promise. The roots of truth sprouted in my life from repeated petition and praise to my Good God sustained me then and holds me now.

My Good God is faithful to cultivate what is good and prune what isn’t good in my life. He is relentless to bring life to what seems dead. He is persistent to bring hope to what seems gone. And He is doing the same with your life, especially when it seems that all you see in your life are empty branches (see John chapter 15).

God is faithful to convict and comfort, remind and revive, lead and love, strengthen and send out. Like the song we sang last week in church, “He’s been faithful through all the seasons. So why would He fail me now? He won’t. He won’t.”*

He won’t.

That’s truth.

The God of my college days is the same as the God of my chronic illness days. He hasn’t changed in providing, protecting, and giving peace. He hasn’t changed in sustaining, strengthening, and saving lives once for all, once for ever.

He’s faithful when I’m fearful and faithless.

He’s steadfast when I’m scared and needing strength.

He’s loving when I’m lost and loaded down.

He has always been God. He will always be God.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

And blessed be those who come in the Name of the Lord (Psalm 118:26 NIV).

That promise (like all of the Bible) isn’t just a poem scribbled on the back of an envelope by a cocky and naive college student. That verse is solid truth said by Sovereign God to the Psalmist who wrote it down for all of us to delight in and find the desires of our hearts only in our Good God.

God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.

written by and copyrighted to Beth Madison, Ph.D., 2024.

If you have a favorite verse from years ago or yesterday, could you please share it in the comments section? Thank you for spreading joy and hope as we all delight in our Good God’s Word given to us to read and be renewed in the doing!

*- song referenced above is “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)”