During the last several months, as the COVID pandemic has swept over the entire world, God’s glory has been sweeping over the entire world even more!
God promised…
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the WATERS COVER THE SEA.” (Habakkuk 2:14)
It doesn’t say as the “waters cover the earth” because water doesn’t cover the entire earth. But water covers the entire SEA. The sea is covered with nothing OTHER THAN WATER—the sea is totally immersed in water!
In the same way, God’s glory is going to cover the earth. And specifically: the knowledge of His glory will fill the earth. So, let’s get some knowledge here. God’s glory means several things in Scripture:
- His glory is His goodness. (Exodus 33:19)
- His glory is His manifest presence. (2 Chronicles 5:14)
- His glory is the arrival of His power to change a situation. (John 2:11)
- His glory is His people being all that He intended us to be. (Romans 3:23, 2 Corinthians 3:18)
The enemy is always trying to counterfeit what God is doing. So, when the enemy is sowing seeds of disease and hate, it’s to get our eyes off the goodness of God—which leads people to repentance and sustains us in our darkest moments. The enemy wants us living in fear and unbelief.
But like David, I want you to say with me:
“I would have despaired unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13)
This is my go-to verse whenever fear, anxiety, or depression comes at my soul. And I have been attacked by these things many times. But it’s my expectation of seeing God’s goodness show up that encourages me, powers me through, and accesses the glory and goodness of God.
Remember what Jesus said to Mary and Martha before He raised Lazarus from the dead?
“Did I not say, if you BELIEVE, you would SEE the glory of God?” (John 11:40)
You see, God wants our eyes and hearts looking UP, expecting to see His goodness and glory show up in our lives.
After saying this, Jesus turned toward the grave and said, “Lazarus, Come forth!” (John 11:43) And out came Ol’ Lazo looking like a mummy, wearing all those grave clothes! Ha-ha. Then Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go!”
So now notice, 3 things happen when we believe we will see:
- It frees us from fear, despair, and negative emotions. “I would have despaired UNLESS I BELIEVED.” (Psalm 27:13)
- It causes the invisible promise to become visible.
- It leads to miracles. “He works miracles among us through faith.” (Galatians 3:5)
Are you ready for your miracle?
When it comes to believing that you will SEE the goodness and glory of God, it is easier than we think. It’s not as much about our faith, as it is about God’s faithfulness!
Fear is rooted in the core belief that God’s Word won’t work—that God isn’t faithful to keep His promise.
The devil wants you to believe that God’s Word isn’t true. The devil wants you to think that God can’t be trusted. But to trust anything, you only have to look at its track record. If you sit in a chair and it breaks each time, that chair does NOT have a good track record!
If you were going to hire someone to do a job, you would want to look at their track record, so you could see if they could be depended upon. Have they been fired every year for the last three years? Have they gotten bad reviews?
Well, let’s consider God’s track record in 1 Kings 8:56:
“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.”
God’s track record is flawless! Not one of His promises has ever been broken!
- You can believe that God will do what He said He’ll do.
- You can trust His Word. The Bible is true! Every word of it!
- Faith comes from hearing the Word about what Jesus Christ did for us all.
- He traded our sin for His righteousness—And now we have His righteousness.
- Our sickness for His healing—now we have this healing.
- Our curse for His blessing—now we have His blessing.
- Our poverty for His provision and for His prosperity—now we have His provision.
Jesus did it all! It is finished!
Our faith isn’t just in a verse here or there. But specifically, what produces pure faith is our trust in the sacrifice that Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.
That’s why when the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,” you’re literally taking every thought and submitting it to Christ’s obedience. Anything that tells you Jesus didn’t do enough for your healing or for your salvation or for your peace or for your joy is based in fear. Any thought that tells you Jesus Christ didn’t do enough is fear.
Those are the thoughts that we take captive. We take them captive to the obedience of Christ and to the obedience of what Jesus Christ did on the cross.
This is the Good News… the goodness of God! And God wants to permeate His goodness in every area of your life and cover your life and the earth with His goodness and glory, as the waters cover the sea!
This is such an important truth that will activate so much faith in the miraculous power and goodness of God.
If you would like to hear further teaching on this important topic, click here for my full teaching on, “The Solution to Every Problem In Life: Believe In the Goodness of God”.
