God is Great, God is Good
A guest post by Robby Eversole.
A childlike prayer has been taught to many children throughout the years as a way to teach the tender of heart how to approach their God. The prayer serves as a way to teach the young the principles that will bless them all the days of their lives.
It goes like this: “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed. Thank you God for daily bread, AMEN.”
There is no more glorious truth that could ever be imposed upon the minds of children than the greatness of God. Often life throws the minds of men into doubt. Men doubt many things about God when the storms of life rage.
This article serves to highlight three major points about the greatness of God.
God is greater than the world in which we live.
God is greater than our problems.
God is greater than our heart.
God is greater than the world in which we live.
To begin, the world around you begs for the consideration of God’s greatness (Romans 1:20). Especially now, with all the scientific advancements, men have discovered the vast universe of which this world is a part. One planet of many, if you will.
The universe in which Earth resides is an effect which demands a cause. Practitioners of “science so-called” deny written scientific law when they promote the “Big Bang” theory or the theory of evolution.
The “First Law of Thermodynamics” states in the simplest terms that “nothing comes from nothing”.
Every material effect must have a sufficient cause, per the “Law of Causation” or the “Law of Cause and Effect.”
These are principles that cannot be manipulated no matter how badly a person desires to resist the fact of God. They are laws that exist because God made them that way. Mankind simply recognizes the laws because that is the way things work in this world. The laws make sense of the way this world operates. The laws existed before mankind reasoned them out into stated facts.
If a person is honest with scientific law, that person must admit that the “Big Bang Theory” and that Darwinian evolution are wholly untenable.
God then, by deductive reasoning, is the only sufficient cause for the material universe that is observed. The only logical conclusion to draw is that a supernatural force is the sufficient antecedent to the beginning of the universe.
Since science does indeed recognize that this universe contains all the energy it will ever possess, and the universe is running toward a depletion of that energy, at one point it started with its maximum potential of energy that now wanes with each passing day. This is exactly what is recognized as the “Second Law of Thermodynamics.”
Christians believe, and the Bible affirms, that all of this energy came from God, and no expending of that energy depleted from Him one wit of power. God is truly greater than the universe.
God is greater than our problems.
Second, all of life’s problems are traced back to sin.
If one gets down to the root of every trial or tragedy within the human family, it leads to a garden in Eden. Sin came on the scene back in that garden and with it came the curse of mankind.
Before sin, everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). From the point of sin entering the picture things were “not so good” (Genesis 3:16-17). At least they were not as God had ultimately intended.
None of this caught God by surprise.
God, from Genesis 3:15 onward, marched toward Calvary with the ultimate and eternal fix. It is in all actuality that from eternity past, the fix was in (Ephesians 3:11).
God’s manifold wisdom is expressed by the church (Ephesians 3:10). The church gives to all that belong to it a community, a commonness, a world of help. Truly, no child of God faces this life alone.
What a gift that is to all that have answered His call. As the body of Christ, Christians “Bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2) and operate with indescribable power.
Notice Paul’s description, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20). There exists no problem in this world that the church is not equipped to handle or address.
God is greater than our heart.
Third, this author wants to notice a problem that plagues many of God's people.
Sin brings guilt and shame. Often, it is the case that the effects of sin are long reaching. The tentacles of sin sting anyone involved in it, and often the venom from it persist. Many find it hard to forgive themselves for the sins they commit. The feeling of guilt persists even after one has done what God requires for the punishment of sin to be abrogated.
How does God forgive a habitual offender? How does God view failure in light of His holiness?
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:7) addressed this very issue. John penned, “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (1 John 3:20). This statement of comfort and peace is within the context and purview of what John stated here, “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).
John wants Christians to know that if they confess their sins, God is faithful to forgive them (1 John 1:9). John exhorts his auditors to know that God demands holy living, but when mistakes are made - they have an advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1).
John wants all of God’s children to know so long as they keep His commandments their sins are forgiven them (1 John 1:7; 2:3, 12). John reminds his readers that eternal life is God’s promise (1 John 2:25). John recalls to the mind the wonderful love God lavished upon His people (1 John 3:1).
This author desires the reader to take this knowledge that God’s word provides and get your emotions and feelings about your past in tune with the text.
Revealed reality should trump your deceptive heart (Jeremiah 17:9) because God is greater than your heart (1 John 3:20).
Thus, it is rightly concluded that God is great and God is good.
God is greater than this universe. He exists outside of it and is the only tenable force to produce the material effect mankind calls home. Since God caused it, He is greater than it.
God is truly greater than all of our problems. The greatest problem man ever faced was death, and to that end, Paul penned, “But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). God is greater.
Finally, God is greater than our hearts. Paul instructs God’s people to “not think above that which is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6). Everyone should temper their conscience and conclusions with the realities revealed in scripture. Solomon stated, “Buy the truth and sell it not” (Proverbs 23:23).
God desires His children have confidence toward Him (1 John 3:21). He has in overwhelming fashion proven His trustworthiness and inability to fail (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18; Zephaniah 3:5).
God is great, God is good and for that, men ought to be thankful!
Robby Eversole preaches for the Eastside Church of Christ in Morganton, Georgia. Robby graduated in 2021 from the Tri-Cities School of Preaching and Christian Development. He does an excellent job writing a weekly blog post on the church’s website, which you can read here.
Some of his sermons are posted on the Eastside Church of Christ’s YouTube channel - I invite you to hear some of his preaching of God’s Word.
I found BIG differences between the Old and New Testament in the bible, and would like to put
this forward, with some 'rationale' of my own if possible.
From the Old Testament to the New Testament, a lot of things changed. The Lord came,
and lived and was 'crucified' 'dying for our sins'. That's part of it.
Another big part of it was it went from a group, the Jews, a society under God, to individuals,
so more 'one on one' (there is great joy in heaven when ONE SINNER turns around').
Because of grace, and the Lord, (other things also), it changes everything, pretty much,
how we are to live.
In this dispensation, having the Lord come, nobody can be BORN a Christian.
In the OT, a child born into a Hebrew family WAS Hebrew, WAS a Jew, and would be
instructed in the ways of God, the Old Testament, to ensure they followed that later.
Not so in the New Testament. Here, we have FREEDOM, no indoctrination from birth, no
'impressing upon the young mind'. We have FREEDOM.
We learn that God CALLS the person, or impresses them Himself, at whatever age this
happens, the young person, (or older person) is drawn, decides.
So, then, if a Christian couple have a baby and it is not to be 'baptized' as a baby
but grow up and respond to God themselves, what do they do?
First, they leave the child be, let them 'find their way', and they will, believe this.
The parent might not like it, but they will. Not to say they wouldn't caution them
about 'bad paths' but ultimately, the young person will go as they feel it is best.
So, what do Christian parents do? THEY are on stage, 24/7. They are watched by
the baby, then the child 24/7.
And if you know children, you know they're pretty stern, pretty 'legalistic' about what's
'right' and 'not right'. The parents have a very tall order to ever 'live up' to their own
child's expectations.
The parents MUST live godly lives, definitely 'watch their words', show forth LOVE to each
other, ESTEEM each other, have the fruit of the spirit, sing, PRAY together, read scripture
OUT LOUD together. The child watches, assesses.
Then, when God calls them, some will remember Mom and Dad, and they will want to
emulate them.
All? No. Some will 'come out of the closet' to be homosexuals...it's their own path, genetics,
and the parents must help them be able to cope before shutting the door. The child
is told the consequences, the belief system long before it's all that evident yet.
It MAY be quite hard on the 'Christian child' who will really want the other family member
there. The straight path isn't the wide path.
If anyone finds other scriptures that counter these teachings, please let me know
so I can realign my views.