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Monday, October 31, 2022

Of Goodness and Mercy

 Surely Goodness, Surely Mercy -Shane and Shane



God’s Goodness: what delight this confidence bestows
His goodness does not shift like shadows through life’s highs and lows
But, steadfast and secure in spite of creature care
The full assurance of His goodness combats dark despair
Where we who trust in Him, and His goodness unfurled
Are part of His Goodness, to bring hope to a dying world
To cheer the suffering, to bear their burden too
To be a ready offering of His goodness run through

God’s mercy: what sweet joy and consolation bless
No foe or trouble can destroy mercy’s kind faithfulness
Sin’s pardon has been won. No other fete achieves
What mercy grants to everyone who repents and believes
Where we would deserve death and hell, grace sets us free
His mercy fills Final Breath’s knell with shouts of victory
For through death’s valley, He will walk with us, so near
To overthrow the enemy so that we need not fear

Goodness and mercy, oh, let endless praise begin
His goodness for our want and woe, His mercy for our sin
Wherever life may lead, whatever may befall
Goodness and mercy intercede to help us through it all
Where so unworthy we, heirs and joint heirs of Christ
Benefit from the agony that Jesus sacrificed
To draw all men to Him, the Perfect Prince of Peace
Where His goodness and mercy brim from founts that never cease

The glass through which we peer does not reveal the whole
A darkly, sorrow-scarred veneer enshrouds the deathless soul
Where what we see in part often vexes our gaze
Goodness and mercy’s works of art above our thoughts and ways
Because the cruciform of faith and hope and love
Must bear the testing storm its authenticity to prove
But, whatever betide, of grief and pain and strife
Goodness and mercy will preside all the days of our life

© Janet Martin

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not [a]want.
2 He makes me to lie down in [b]green pastures;
He leads me beside the [c]still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will [d]dwell in the house of the Lord
[e]Forever.



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