1Chronicles 16:34-35 O give thanks to the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endures forever. 35 And say you, save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.
Not only do we have a God who is the only God in existence, but we can say with all sincerity and certainty that He is all and He is true. Verse 34 reads to give thanks to Him, but for what purpose? For the purpose that follows from the first clause; that He is Good. I don’t think we could even fathom in our minds what it may be like if we had a God who instead of good was evil in nature. Imagine if you can, that the only God in existence were to be evil by nature. I suppose the closest being who does exist would be God’s adversary Satan. But he is no God because he was created by God. Being created disqualifies any deity from being a god; furthermore, his end and eternal ruin and torment has already been decreed and predestined by God, because God is good.
God was good to create everything in existence. When He created the heavens and the earth; God called it good. God created the light, the sky with its clouds also known as the firmament in Genesis ch.1:6 and God called it good. The earth and the seas, the fields containing every fruit and seed, the animals and the first man, God created and called it good. One circumstance within God’s good creation He called not good was that Adam was alone, in remedy God created the woman Eve to be his wife.
Verse 34 of 1Chronicles continues and reads that, His mercy endures forever. God is good and merciful. So good and merciful that He saw the only remedy for saving sinners was for Him to manifest Himself in the flesh, abide by His own law, go to the cross guiltless but become guilty for the sake of the guilty. By His mercy He made Himself an eternal offering for us. Because of His mercy God is in heaven; patiently waiting for men and woman everywhere to repent of their sins and fall in love with His Son Jesus Christ, that they may have the Spirit of God and walk in obedience to Christ’s commandments and have eternal life with Him in heaven, as well as be reunited with our loved ones.
Verse 35 reads, gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.
Notice the scripture reads, gather us together, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise. This is in reference to the people of God coming together for the purpose of worship, prayer, praise, and exhortation. This would be the same as ourselves; the Christian coming together for the same reasons, such as church and bible studies. But the fellowship shouldn’t end there. We should always desire to be around our people more than the heathen unless for the purpose of witnessing to them the grace of God.
It also reads deliver us from the heathen. In context it’s in reference to captivity, but for us we may also look at it as literal oppression of our religion, or for us who are not being oppressed; we may look at it figuratively as an overwhelming influence of the heathens around us, or our oppression under our own sin. In either case; we must praise and worship our God.
Psalms 73:25-28 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none on earth that I desire beside you. 26 My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. 27 For, see, they that are far from you shall perish: you have destroyed all them that go a whoring from you. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all your works.
Who have I in heaven but you? And there is none on earth that I desire beside you. Notice the love and affection for God that is expressed in this verse. The author places all things second to God. He does not speak of his family he may have in heaven, neither his family on earth; but God and Christ alone is all we need in heaven and earth; they are all we should primarily desire in this life. The Apostle Paul wrote in:
Philippians 3:7-8 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Verse 26 reads; My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.
Our flesh and our hearts fail in many respects. But the most relevant way to be aware of are the failures of our spiritual inclinations to God. Our flesh and our hearts fail us as we attempt to obey God every day. We do not pray as much as we wish, we do not worship as much as we wish, and we do not study as much as we wish. The natural disposition of our sinful nature inclines us to temptation and distraction from our God. But where we are weak God is strong and He sustains us with His grace. He becomes the strength of our heart, and He is our portion now and throughout all eternity; a portion of Himself which is given to us through the Son of God, who is our peace, our light of illumination that gives us wisdom, our sanctification, our fortress, and our rock.
Verse 27, 28 reads; for, see, they that are far from you shall perish: you have destroyed all them that go a whoring from you. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all your works.
Sadly there are those who will parish resulting from their own selfish rebellion. But we who draw near to God are blessed with Christ, in whom we place all our trust in; and it is His good works that we declare to those who are lost, that they may also share in the same blessing as ourselves.
Descendants of Grace Monergistic Agora 