The Mississippi enterprise., 1963-06-08

Till. 1IlcIc dIC lIldIly ICdoOilS.
why men should give thanks
to the Lord. The text gives two,
reasons why men should offer
thanksgiving to the Lord.
These are: first. because the
Lord is good and secondly, be-
cause His mercy endureth for
ever. The Lords goodness Is
great and eternal. We read
that He loved us first, that is,
before we loved Him, Also,
that men we're sinners, yet
Christ died for them. When a
good person dies for a wicked
person, that can be expressed
as goodness. Men can never
in time and eternity thank
the Lord enough for what He
has done for the redeemed.
THE FAITHFULNESS OF
GOD:
God had not forgotten the
covenant which He made with
the fathers of Israel, Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob. The
Psalmist wants us to realize
that God never fails. His
promise and His word will
stand forever. Heaven and
earth can Dissolve but Gods
will shall stand. Nothing can
compare with the faith
fulness of God. Through all of
life men in all ages have ex-
perienced the never falling
presence and promises of God.
1t is true life takes us through
many moments of bitterness
and sorrow, and many times
we cannot see God at the con-
troll of things, but God will
never leave us. Those who
trust in Him have no need to
fear. When we like the Psalm
ist can reflect on our lives we,
too, will know that God is true
and faithful.
GODS CARE FOR HIS PEO-
PIE IN BOTH THE WILDER
NESS AND CANAAN:
The writer now deals with
what God did for His people
during the Exodus, while in
the wilderness, and on into
the Promised Land. We note
that God brought them out of
slavery, out of Egypt. AL
though Moses was their lead
er, it was God who worked
wonders through Moses. Their
numbers, numerically while
in Egypt, were so great that
Egypt feared them. That is
why they had been enslaved.
All along the march from
Egypt through the wilderness
into Canaan God had cared
for them and protected them.
God provided a cloud to cover
them when it was day. He
provided fire to give them
light by night. When there
was no food available, God
provided quAils and dropped
bread from heaven for them
to eat When the water was
all gone, God provided water
from the rock. They did not
want for anything. All they
needed God provided. For God
remembered what He promis-
ed their father Abraham. God
is yet caring for His people.
Not in general ways only, but
also in special ways as in this
case of Israel.
PRACTICAL POINTS ON
THE LESSON:
The PSalmist could not have
been true to himself had he
not written about the goodness
and mercy of God to himself
and to his people. Through
Gods care of His people we
have been able to learn how
God manifested His purpose
Tor them and for the world.
This great concern and care
Tor Gods people can best be
seen in the way God delivered
them out of slavery in Egypt.
brought them across the Red
Sea, carried them through the
wilderness and brought them
into the Promised Land, which
God promised to their faith
erS, Abraham, Isaac and Jac-
OBJ. Of course all of this did
not happen at once. It took
many years, but during this
time God was preparing His
people for a great work. Does
God care for His people to-
day! The answer to this is
positive. God would not be
God if He did not care. This
point must be made clear to
those who study today's les
son. The c h ur c h is to let
men know God cares, by
helping to meet these needs
in many ways today through
missions and other programs
such as CARE, CROP, Church
World Service, and others.