WHAT'S IN STORE FOR YOU?
Psalm 31:19 NKJV
19 Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!
This is the time of year when the forecasts come out. Not weather forecasts, but the experts provide their forecasts for what is coming in the new year. I am sure we will hear, "What's in store for 2024?" Remember, you heard it here first. What we typically do not see is an end-of-year analysis of what the experts got right and got wrong. Of course, we don't see meteorologists keeping score on their weather forecasts either. What a great job!
But in our verse for today, we see David expressing what God has in store for His people who meet two conditions. David does not say that God's great goodness is laid up for everyone. God is certainly good. Very good. But not everyone receives from His goodness. Why is that?
For many people, they do not believe God is good. They believe He is uninterested at best and adversarial at worst. But the idea of a good God who lays up or stores up good things for His people is a foreign concept. But not David. David believed in a good God. Look how David starts the verse, "Oh, how great is Your goodness." That "Oh" is an exclamation of wonder and amazement. Oh is what we say when we view an extraordinary sunrise or stand on a mountain and take in the view. To David, God's goodness was not a casual or insignificant attribute of God. He believed in a great God who stores up great goodness.
God's goodness is stored up for people who fear Him and trust Him. To fear God is a deep reverence for Him. A reverence for God will show up in our actions and attitudes. The Bible has a great deal to say about the fear of God. A deep respect for God and His ways is where wisdom begins and evil ends. In Psalm 34:11-14, David spells out what the fear of the Lord looks like. I will probably save that for a couple of days from now, but it's a simple list. Simple to explain but challenging to implement. But there are benefits, God's great goodness coming our way.
The other condition of receiving the goodness God has stored up is to trust Him. And not only give voice to trusting Him but couple our words with actions. Trusting Him in the presence of the sons of men. That would be down here on earth. Because we trust in God, we live differently than those who do not know and acknowledge Him. When they are fretting, we are calm. When they are expressing fear for what is in store in the days ahead, we are expecting to see the great goodness of our God. Trust in God has a different feel to it. As we grow in our trust of Him, our ability to rise above the fear and negativity in the world grows. And God's great goodness shows up in our lives more and more. Then we join our voice with David and exclaim, Oh, how great is God's goodness to me!
APPLICATION
Trusting God and fearing God are two things that we grow in. Wherever you are now in your walk with the Lord, you can develop further in your reverence and trust of God. Do not disqualify yourself by focusing on where you have missed it in the past or failed to fear and trust. Get up and go again. God's great goodness is in store for you!
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for Your great goodness that is in store for me. I purpose in my heart to walk in greater reverence of You and trust in You.