MERCIFUL, KIND & GOOD - Louis Gervais
MERCIFUL, KIND & GOOD
Hello and greetings in the Name of the Son of Him Who is Merciful, Kind and Good, Jesus Christ! As I read further in the Psalms, the Afrikaans word ‘goedertierenheid’ kept coming up. Indeed, it appears quite frequently. I felt I should write my prayer letter about this aspect of God, thinking it merely to mean, “goodness,” for surely, God is very good. But when I looked up the verses in English I found that the same Hebrew word was translated as “great mercy,” “unfailing love,” and “kindness”! Now, I don’t know Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic, nor do I know how to translate the Bible. But! According to Strong’s, the Hebrew word is translated in the King James (in its primary meaning) as mercy (149x), kindness (40x), lovingkindness (30x), goodness (12x), kindly (5x), merciful (4x), favour (3x) and so on. “For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.” –Psalm 100:5 KJV Seeing as there are other verses which explicitly say so, it’s safe to say that the Lord is merciful and kind and good towards those who diligently seek Him. How great is His goodness indeed! How has He not lavished His mercy upon us in His Son, Jesus Christ?
Who has demonstrated greater kindness to mortal men in the history of the world? The Lord reigns! And a Good God, Merciful Master and Kind King is He. “May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in You.” –Psalm 33:22 The Lord wonderfully protected the persecuted family last weekend. Please pray that God will give them victory against their adversaries. My grandmother, Mr. Van Niekerk and Mr. Kussman lack the personal experience of salvation which embodies God’s mercy, kindness and goodness. Daniël, Jan and I were in Ermelo this week on our 3 Horsepower Tour. There was a high school youth night.
About 100 Afrikaans teenagers in a room barely big enough for them. Daniël had them sing a song; “The things I used to do, I don’t do them anymore; there’s been a great change since I’ve been born-again.” Jan shared his testimony. I prayed for the message. And I preached on three things that I’ve noticed in the lives of mature believers: humility, a love for others and they’re people who spend time alone with God in prayer and in His Word. And God blessed the meeting, as well as when Daniël preached to about 360 of the high schoolers the next morning. Praise the Lord! It was the first time that we were able to preach the Gospel at that school. Please pray for our tour as we visit schools and other venues in the next town. May Christ be proclaimed and God be glorified! –Louis Gervais “How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.” –Psalm 36:7 KJV