Sunday, January 21, 2007

The Mark of a Good Man


Psalms 38:18 KJV
For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.

This is what makes a good man good. There is a tenderness about good men. They do not harden to their sin; they do not excuse or otherwise justify their sin, nor do they attempt to hide their sin from God.

Psalms 37:23-24 KJV
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.


So good men do fall from time to time. Albert Barnes says it like this, "“Though he fall.” Disasters and reverses may lay him low; he may, like Job, be stripped of everything; like Joseph, be put in prison; like Jonah, be cast into the deep. “He shall not be utterly cast down.” He shall not be altogether prostrate. He shall be brought on his knees, but not on his face; or, if laid prone for a moment he shall be up again ere long. No saint shall fall finally or fatally. Sorrow may bring us to the earth, and death may bring us to the grave, but lower we cannot sink, and out of the lowest of all we shall arise to the highest of all. “For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand...."[1]

Good men do fall, but good men will admit it. And then, admitting that they fall, they will seek the Lord for forgiveness and a hand back up.

Psalms 38:15 KJV
For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.


[1] E-Sword 7.7.7, Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible, Albert Barnes (1798-1870)

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