David was sure he would praise God for his goodness in the future, because God had been good to him in the past. He who did not spare his only Son but gave him up for us all will give us all the grace we need to glorify him. God has not brought you this far only to abandon you. You will yet praise him in the future.
Someone recently said to me, “I feel like God doesn’t love me. He doesn’t seem to hear my prayers.”
Sometimes it seems like nobody’s home in heaven. Many believers can identify with David’s cry:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest. (PS 22:1-2)
David felt forsaken. It seemed like God was deaf or far away. What do we do at these times?
David encouraged himself by reminding himself of God’s past faithfulness to Israel and to himself:
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame. (4-5)
Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. (9-10)
The Bible records centuries of God’s faithfulness and steadfast love to his people. He gave Abraham a son, rescued Joseph from prison, brought Israel out of Egypt, kept Daniel safe in the lions’ den and delivered Paul from the Jews. God always comes through for his people. And can you not recall many examples of God’s goodness to you?
PAST GRACE GUARANTEES FUTURE GRACE
God tells us in Romans 8:
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (32)
In other words, God has already given us the most costly gift he could ever given us, his own Son. If he did not hold back Jesus, but gave him up for us when we were lost in our sin and rebellion, will not our gracious God give us all we need? Past grace guarantees future grace! So David goes on to confidently say:
I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you. (22)
David was sure he would praise God for his goodness in the future, because God had been good to him in the past. He who did not spare his only Son but gave him up for us all will give us all the grace we need to glorify him. God has not brought you this far only to abandon you. You will yet praise him in the future.
Mark Altrogge has been the senior pastor of Saving Grace Church of Indiana, PA for over 25 years, and is the author of many well-known worship songs such as “I Stand In Awe”, and “In The Presence”. This article first appeared on his blog and is used with permission.
