Face Towards The Son, Three Reasons God is Good.

One year I attended a retreat at Big Bear Lake. While my friend and I love going to retreats, this one was exceptional. The retreat center faced toward the lake. The water glistened, the ducks and swans floated without a care in the world. The speaker at the retreat shared how every part of a sunflower was useable. But the thought that has stayed with me all these years is that the sunflower faces toward the sun. It always seeks the sun.

Toward

Our word today is toward that I am going to share. The definition of toward is in the direction of, or as regards, concerning. Toward is in the Bible 276 times.

Beloved, if a sunflower faces toward the sun, how much more should we follow the Son?

 

Walt Whitman said, “Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.”

Trials

Right now, the world seems out of kilter. We are amid a pandemic. We have division among people and families. However, our calling is perseverance– one day at a time.

Abraham faced an obstacle. He had no heirs. His wife Sarah was barren, and they were childless, yet God said to Abraham in Genesis,

Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Genesis 15:5.

God didn’t bring the solution to Abraham for many years. Abraham had to keep looking towards God. He had to trust that God was good and would answer his prayers. Abraham and Sarah tried to go outside God’s will and help God out when Sarah suggested that Hagar be a surrogate and have a baby for Abraham. But this was not the promised child.

Choices

Beloved, when we step out of God’s will, we suffer the consequences of our choices. Yet, God is a good God, and when Abraham and Sarah were beyond the years when a woman and man have a baby, Sarah conceives and gives birth to Issac.

[Tweet “He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. He is good.”]

There are many reasons that God is good, but today there are three reasons I want to share. Reason number one, God gave us Jesus to forgive us our sins. Another reason, God gave us the Holy Spirit to comfort us. Lastly, God is good; He gives us the desires of our hearts when we look toward Him for the answers. Just as He gave Sarah a child, God will answer our prayers.

Father God, as I face towards You, that You keep us safe. Lord, I pray for the woman hurting, and I ask that You bring her comfort. For the family that is struggling to make ends meet, provide for the needs. For the person that is sick, heal her. For the one who has doubts, let her face towards the Son and have the doubts erased. In Jesus’s name. Amen

Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. Psalm 66:5

In what ways has God been good to you as you face toward the Son?