ROCK SOLID!

Among the many things David said are statements about God that are rock solid testimony to His character. Let’s examine a few of them.

Psalms 5:12 NIV
[12] “Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

Favour! Who doesn’t need favour especially when the whole world sometimes seems against us? Simple things can go horribly wrong without God’s favour.

There’s no favour like the favour of God. God’s favour or, as the Hebrew word suggests, both delight and pleasure, is all around us like a fortified castle of protection.
Imagine that! It’s as though, like a watchful father, He says, “Don’t touch my kids!” and makes good His warning with necessary action.

What does this declaration mean to us?

God blesses the righteous! This is an amazing observation! First, God blesses. Google provides a comprehensive list of God’s blessings… spiritual, physical, material, and circumstantial… too many to enumerate here. Most important is that all these blessings are promised and given in the context of His covenant. His covenant, in turn, is a package deal in response to our faith in Jesus.

Ephesians 1:3-8, 11-12 NIV
[3] “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. [4] For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace [8] that he lavished on us…
[11] In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, [12] in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

“In Him…in Him!” All this happened because of Jesus. We owe every we get from God to Him.

Second, even the righteousness which qualifies us to receive all His covenant blessings is His gift to us. Our righteousness is completely inadequate to earn His favour. In fact, according to Isaiah’s observation, our righteousness is no better than “filthy rags”. Our “righteousness”, our very best efforts, stink!

Isaiah 64:6 NIV
[6] “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

So, the only righteousness that is acceptable to God is the righteousness of His Son which He earned by His obedience to the Father at tremendous cost. This is the righteousness that the Father reckons as ours and blesses with the abundance of His favour and delight.

Imagine that! God lavishes on us blessing after blessing… goodness, favour, loving kindness, covenant love, promises… whatever you want to call them, because of Jesus! God’s favour around us, like a protecting shield, has nothing to do with our merits, only with Jesus’ merits which He freely gives to us. He not only gave us His righteousness. He MADE US the righteousness of God, as righteous as God is.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
[21] “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus became what we are, sin, so that we can be what He is, righteousness in person.

Now, God can freely lavish on us everything that He is and wants to do for His children. There is nothing to stop Him from being the Father He is to us.

Third, God blocks every evil intention of devils and people with His favour. We are encased in His fanour like a “bubble”, above, beneath, and all around us. Wherever we go, favour accompanies us. We go shopping… favour! We run into problems…favour! We encounter people, conflict, opposition, whatever…favour! We need help…favour! God’s favour is indispensable, reliable, and capable as we meet every situation.

So, how do we appropriate God’s favour when we need it?

Psalms 18:19-20 NIV
[19] “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

David gives us the answer.

Psalms 116:12-13 NIV
[12] “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? [13] I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”

In the cup of salvation is all the favour we ever need, the blessings of His covenant. He is only a call away.