There is a single verse in the Psalm 40 that I want us to look at this morning.
“O Lord my God, many are the great works You have done, and Your thoughts toward us. No one can compare with You! If I were to speak and tell of them, there would be too many to number.” Psalm 40:5 NLV
Now look at this phrase “many are the great works which You have done”.
Think about that for a moment – what great works do you see that God has done? Was it last night’s sunset or this morning’s sunrise? Was it the love and compassion you felt for a stranger who was in need? Or was it the unpretentious love and acceptance of a child? What did you experience just yesterday that you can see was a wonderful work of God in your life?
“Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!” Psalm 107:8 NJKV
“He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” Psalm 111:4 NJKV
“O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them.” Isaiah 25:1 NLT
Our Father is a planner; He plans good things. The things that are “wonder full” are the things that have the character of God woven through them. Things like faithfulness, truth, love, forgiveness, peace, gentleness, patience, joy…
Oh wait, did I just list the fruit of the Spirit? When God’s love fills us, we begin to produce fruit.
In the natural fruit a tree produces fruit for the kind of tree it is. Apples, oranges, bananas, and so on – you know what I’m saying. Nothing tastes as good a peach picked fresh from the branch. When we grow in Christ we will begin to produce fruit that is consistent with the vine we are growing on – we will begin to produce godly character.
Our lives should be producing Father-fruit. Do you know that He is wanting to use us to do wonderful things in the lives of those around us? And don’t think that everyone will be happy that we are an example of the Father – they won’t be. Jesus faced that opposition.
“God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 ERV
The love of the Lord will grow in our lives as we stay connected to Him. Just as a fruit tree first breaks forth with buds in Spring and those buds ripen into mature fruit we will produce the fruit of God’s character.
May the trees in our yards and neighborhoods be a reminder that we were made to produce the fruit of godly character.