Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God alone )The Depths of God’s Goodness
Pastor Luke Bernthal
Bethel Lutheran Church
Text: Psalms 107:
1 - 9;
Oh, give thanks
to the LORD, for He is
good! For His mercy
endures forever. 2 Let
the redeemed of the LORD
say so, Whom He has
redeemed from the hand of
the enemy, 3 And gathered
out of the
lands, From the east and
from the west, From the
north and from the
south… 8 Oh, that men
would give thanks to the
LORD for His
goodness, And for His
wonderful works to the
children of men! 9 For
He satisfies the longing
soul, And fills the
hungry soul with
goodness.
Have you ever
looked into the night sky
on a star-filled
night and tried to
consider the vastness of
the universe? It’s quite
astounding to think
about, isn’t it?
Astronomers could spend
their
whole lives studying the
universe and only scratch
the surface of
understanding it. Who
could ever comprehend the
vastness of the
universe with galaxies
estimated to be billions
of light years away?
We aren’t even sure how
far out the universe
extends. From our
perspective, the universe
is truly limitless.
Looking into the
goodness of God is much
like looking out
into the universe: For
God’s goodness too is
limitless. We could
spend our whole life
searching out the
goodness of the Lord and we
would only scratch the
surface of understanding
it; we could never
fully plumb its depths.
That doesn’t mean we
shouldn’t spend our
days trying to do so!
Just think of how much
better our lives would
be if we spent our days
pondering the great
goodness of the Lord,
instead of dwelling in
the mire of thoughts
about our own problems,
or focusing on earthly,
worldly things that in
the end have no
value. Imagine the joy
and praise that would
fill our hearts if we
would see signs of God’s
goodness in everything.
Our hearts, mouths,
and lives would exclaim
with the Psalmist those
familiar words of
the first verse of our
text, “Oh, give thanks to
the LORD, for He is
good! For His mercy
endures forever” (v. 1).
A couple of weeks
ago during a Saturday
youth group Bible
Study I played a game
with the kids using a
dice that had almost
every letter of the
alphabet on it. For
whatever letter one of the
students rolled they were
all to try and come up
with up to 10
things for which they
were thankful that
started with that letter.
The eye-opening thing was
just how many things-both
great and small-
you could come up with
for each letter-and the
kids came up with
some very creative ones!
The list is literally
endless! This
Thanksgiving let’s take
the time to gaze into the
vast Depths of
God’s Goodness and
respond with Our Humble
Thanks!
Think again about
God’s goodness in the
universe He has
created. Think of those
stars He’s placed in the
sky. Each one (and
it’s estimated that there
are six septillion of
them, that’s 6 with
24 zeros on the end of
it!) is a marvel of
beauty and complexity.
Many of them are hundreds
of times bigger than our
sun! And yet what
is their purpose? As far
as we know they are
simply there for our
enjoyment! They are
examples of just how vast
the glory of God’s
power, wisdom, and
goodness really is! Isn’t
it humbling to think of
how insignificant we are
in this universe,
compared to the giant
planets, stars, and
galaxies God has created,
and yet He knows and
cares for each one of us
personally! He didn’t
send His Son Jesus to
die for the gigantic
stars of the universe; He
died for you and me!
David wrote about these
very thoughts in Psalm 8,
“When I consider
your heavens, the work of
your fingers, the moon
and the stars,
which you have set in
place, what is man that
you are mindful of
him, the son of man that
you care for him?” (Psalm
8:3-4).
We see even more
evidence of God’s
goodness closer to home.
Psalm 33:5 reminds us,
“The earth is full of the
goodness of the
LORD.” Take a walk
outside and see the
beauty of all that God
created. Take a look at
the farmers’ fields and
walk down the aisles
of the grocery store and
see the wealth and
variety of food God has
created for us to enjoy.
God made this world for
us! Again, what an
astounding and humbling
thought! He has also
given us our senses to
enjoy the tastes and
smells, sights and sounds
of His goodness.
We also see God’s
goodness toward us in His
protection. Our
text reminds us that the
LORD has “redeemed [His
people] from the
hand of the enemy” (Psalm
107:2). God has not only
redeemed and
protected us from our
physical enemies like He
did with Israel when
He delivered them from
slavery and captivity in
the Old Testament,
but also from our
spiritual enemies which
threaten our very souls:
The Devil, the world, and
our own sinful flesh.
Think of how He
sends His angels to watch
over us every minute of
our lives. “For He
shall give His angels
charge over you, To keep
you in all your ways”
(Psalm 91:11). This world
can be a very scary
place. Nearly every
day we see and hear
reminders of so many
things that threaten our
lives, our health, and
our well-being. Just
think of how much
trouble, disaster, and
calamity He has kept from
coming into our
lives altogether. That
thought alone should make
us thankful to God
for His merciful
protection and goodness.
God’s goodness is
seen in the people in our
lives that are
near and dear to us. The
people who care about us
and care for us.
God has given us our
family and friends. He
has given us each other,
our fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ, a
spiritual family in
which we share the great
blessing of mutual faith
and Christian love
for each other. Hardly a
day goes by in which I do
not give thanks
for the goodness God has
shown to me in you, the
Bethel
congregation. What would
life be like without
loved ones to share it
with us? Yet, aren’t
these gifts of God’s
goodness often the things
we take most for granted
and maybe even treat with
ungrateful
contempt? Let us think
about the goodness of God
and treat the
people in our lives as
the great gifts they are.
We can even see
the goodness of God in
the trials and
troubles of life. God is
so good that He does the
difficult and
painful work of
disciplining us for our
good. He has promised that
no matter what the
situation, no matter what
the trial or
tribulation He will work
it all out for our good
(cf. Romans 8:28).
Truly, everything that
happens in our lives is a
sign of God’s
goodness.
Most amazing of
all, look again to the
cross and see God’s
goodness in its full
glory! Who can comprehend
the depth of God’s
goodness in sending His
only Son to save us? Look
again at Jesus’
empty tomb and wonder at
the eternal life that our
living Savior has
won for us and the heaven
He has waiting for us!
The last verse of
our Psalm reminds us of
God’s spiritual and
eternal goodness towards
us, “For He satisfies the
longing soul, And fills
the hungry soul
with goodness” (v. 9).
But aren’t we so
often ungrateful for the
goodness of God,
acting as if the good in
our lives is from our own
hard work, or as
if the goodness God has
shown us is something we
somehow deserve? Do
we not at times repay His
goodness with a slap in
the face by our
own sinfulness and
thanklessness? Yet He
came to die in our place so
that we can go on living
with Him. That is
goodness beyond measure!
“Oh, that men
would give thanks to the
LORD for His
goodness, And for His
wonderful works to the
children of men!” (v.
8). Let us make it our
daily exercise-not just
on Thanksgiving-to
see the goodness of the
Lord in all things and we
will truly be
filled with thanksgiving!
Amen.
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