God Before and Behind

"Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life," Psalm 23:6  
 
Happy Thanksgiving! I pray for you all today in the hope that the blessings of your life may be foremost in your hearts and minds so that the cup of your soul is indeed overflowing with the knowledge of God's great and particular love for you. I pray, too, that as you look around your table, you may give thanks for the gifts of the people in your life here, with you now, and those we love who have entered into the closer presence of the Good Shepherd.

This week the Psalmist presents an interesting promise about the life we are offered with God. The 23rd psalm begins with the images of a shepherd who leads us into real life and in this verse a shepherd who follows us over the course of our days with goodness and mercy. It's an image of God before us and God behind us, guiding us, but also picking up the pieces of our lives and crowning them with His goodness, mercy, and forgiveness.

I believe this to be a right insight because I more often see God's goodness and mercy in my life and in your lives from the backside. That is, we rarely see God going before us. But when we turn and look back over our lives, we see God's hand at work directing us, picking us up when we've fallen, blessing us with gifts that are more than we can ask and more than we deserve most of the time. To bring it closer, we rarely thank God before going into a difficult time because we're not quite fearless enough to trust that God is with us. It's much easier to give thanks after we've gotten through to the other side and see God's hand before us and behind us.

God promises to walk before us and behind us leading us into a fearless, hope-filled life. We can grow in our walk with our Good Shepherd if we will practice inviting God to lead us in our lives and trust that He is in fact leading us. We can grow even more as fearless Christians when we stop and see the goodness and mercy that follow us and allow our hearts to be filled with thanksgiving.

So, as you are filling your body with good food and your heart with the people in your life, allow God to fill your soul with hope because He is going before you and behind you today and every day of your life.

Grace and Peace,
WFA