July 12

Zechariah 9:17

For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

Our hearts are moved as we think of the goodness of God in the abundance and overflow of material blessings; family, houses, land, freedom, abundance of food of all kinds. How great is His goodness toward us! But these are only material, temporal blessings. Consider his goodness toward us when we were lost and dying in our sins, and on the way to an eternity of penal suffering and darkness. He sent his Son, his beloved Son, to be our substitute on the cross and to die in our place that we might be washed in his blood, pardoned for our sins, and enjoy sweet, joyous, beautiful fellowship with Him, for which we were created, and which we will experience throughout eternity. Oh the goodness of our God! Oh the joy and blessings that he has prepared us! “How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!” Amen.

Commentary by Francis L. Harris

"...what must I do to be saved?" Acts 16:30