“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23:6 NKJ
“Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23:6 NLT
I have quoted from both the New King James version and the New Living Translation because in the New Kings James translation the true meaning of this verse gets lost. This is why it is so important to spend time studying and meditating on God’s Word in order to fully understand what is being said, and then asking the Holy Spirit to reveal how it applies to us today. This verse is a prime example because at first glance, when we read “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me”, we get an image of goodness and mercy following David just like the flock follows him. But in actuality the verb “follow” is more accurately translated “pursue” as in an enemy aggressively pursuing its adversary! This is the only place in the Old Testament where these two nouns are accompanied by this verb. And there is a reason for it.
A better way for us to wrap our minds around what David is actually saying might be to think of the verse in this way. “I have absolute confidence and certainty that your goodness and unfailing love chase after me vigorously, without stopping; until you overtake and capture me.” Doesn’t that give a whole new meaning to what David was trying to convey in this verse? When I read it that way my heart begins to race! I get excited at the thought of God chasing after David, hunting him down, not to destroy him; but to pour out His goodness and mercy on him.
Now I want to share the absolute beauty of this verse in how it applies to us today as believers under the New Covenant. The goodness and mercy of God chased after His people and vigorously pursued them until He finally overtook them; once and for all, at the Cross! Before Christ died and was resurrected there was a separation between God and His people. Their relationship was a reward and punishment system based on their effort to keep His Laws. If they succeeded they were rewarded. If they failed they were punished, and God once again had to chase them with His goodness and mercy. This effort was done to bring them to the place of repentance in order to get them back to a place of right standing with Him. David experienced this many times in his life.
At the Cross that all changed! God poured out His entire wrath and punishment for His people on His own Son! Jesus died and was resurrected so that we would never have to be separated from God again; if we accept Him as our Savior! After the Cross the goodness and mercy of God resides solely and wholly in our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, forevermore! We no longer live in relationship with God, working in our own effort, on a reward and punishment system of acceptance! Our right standing with God is totally based on what Christ did for us at the Cross! And when we say yes to Him we have full assurance of His goodness and mercy, and the truth that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever because of it!
Our responsibility is in renewing our minds to this truth daily so we fully understand who we are in Christ! The goodness and mercy of God no longer follows after us or pursues us; it leads us! I want to remind you again of Acts 17:28. “For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’” In Ephesians 2:4-9 Paul explains this best. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 says it this way. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” When we fully comprehend what Jesus did for us at the Cross a wellspring of life rises up on the inside of us! We are filled with absolute confident assurance, knowing that the goodness and mercy of God resides in us; through our relationship with Jesus Christ! And we have confident assurance that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever because of what Jesus did for us at the Cross!
Prayer: Spend time with your Good Shepherd and praise Him for everything He did for you at the Cross! Spend time renewing your mind to the truth that the goodness and mercy of God resides on the inside of you through Jesus Christ! Renew your mind to the truth that your effort is no longer needed to have right standing with God. It is all done through Jesus Christ and your responsibility is to believe by faith in what He has already done for you. Renounce the lies that the devil has tried to deceive you with, and fill your mind with the authentic truth of your relationship with God because of your relationship with Jesus Christ.
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