In Romans chapter 3 verse 23 we read:
“… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
It pops up in a section about the law which takes a bit of wading through. Essentially Paul is saying that because of Jesus’ sacrifice we are no longer justified by the law, but rather we are brought into what F.B. Meyer calls the “condition” of Holiness, which is achieved, as we see in the next verse, through “His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
In many a movie the intrepid hero and his companions fall into quick sand, and slowly sink up to their necks. After an ad break they somehow manage to extricate themselves, to move onto the next calamity, the next dark and sinister challenge.
But what if there was no way to get out? What if you were stuck there forever and ever? Slowly sinking. Sand trickling into your mouth despite all your efforts to prevent it from happening?
And the only way for rescue to happen is to make a faith call.
We can’t pull our selves out of the mud and mire of our sinful state. We need someone else to do it for us.
It’s an interesting part of our nature, isn’t it, that we are quicker to grab onto the “not good” rather than the good in any given situation. Turn on any news broadcast and you won’t find many good news stories. What sells is fear. We are keen to know what the latest calamity is.
Why?
Because we are coming from a position of sin. Our default setting is the “falling short.” We opt for the not good.
And yet, how many many times do we read God’s Words: Do not be afraid.
For I am with you.
I ponder why we don’t take this more deeply to heart?
The offer threads its way through all of the Bible. In Psalm 34:8 we read “Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see - how good GOD is. Blessed are you who run to him.”
How good God is.
How easy it is for us to gloss over that word: Good.
Take a moment to think about it in all the ways we use it. It refers to something pleasant, enjoyable, so it has an emotional component. Something that is good brings about happiness.
It can refer to the taste and nutritional value of a food, a fine meal served and enjoyed. Good can be a deed done out of kindness, to someone’s benefit. We see good things done in terms of welfare, benefaction, supply.
In Psalm 4:6 the Psalmist states “Many are saying, ‘Who will show us any good?’”
Who indeed?
“Lift up the light of your countenance upon us O Lord!”
We already have God’s more-than-enough."
If only, like the hero in the quicksand, we would reach out and grab hold of the rope thrown to us! The utter, complete, total Goodness of God’s Heart, the reality of His being, that which is His eternal nature: Good.
Our foundations are wrong and need to be rebuilt is we see it any other way.
God is Good.
Why do we keep trying to insist He isn’t?
We all fall short of the Glory of God. Only, God doesn’t. After all, it’s His Goodness, His Glory we are falling short of!
And that’s it isn’t it? Even the quicksand has a use. Bad as it might seem, it forces us to look to and place all our trust in the only One who can bring about our rescue, our redemption: The God who is Good.
Lord, I lift my eyes up to you and say thank you for your Goodness, thank you that it seeps into every part of my life and being. Thank you that your love extends even down into my darkest places. Lord, thank you than I can run to you and find shelter wrapped in your Grace, your Mercy, your Goodness and your Love.
Amen.