Goodness and Mercy Following Us

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6). With these words, King David joins the goodness and mercy of God as two faithful companions that follow the believer along the whole of his journey. The image is striking: these are not demands that march ahead of us, claiming their due, but gifts that follow us, like an escort of grace sent by the Shepherd. God does not merely forgive; he continues to pour out good upon his own, day after day. When Moses asks to see the glory of the LORD, God answers, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee" (Exodus 33:19). And the prophet Jeremiah, in the very midst of ruin, recovers hope in this certainty: "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). These verses comfort the believer with the assurance of a God whose mercy is new every morning and whose goodness accompanies every step of the way. Whatever the circumstances, the faithful can move forward without fear, knowing that the goodness and mercy of God follow them faithfully and will lead them all the way to the house of the Lord, where they shall dwell forever. Because his compassions fail not and are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), no day arrives beyond the reach of his mercy, and no failure exhausts the goodness that pursues the believer to the very end of the road.