Followed By Mercy

Who is the LORD, abundant in goodness and truth

W. Austin Gardner Season 2 Episode 7

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At some point, you've probably asked yourself: who is God, really—beneath the layers of religious tradition, church talk, and cultural noise? This isn't just a theological question; it's a personal one. And in Exodus 34, God answers it Himself. When He speaks to Moses, He doesn't offer a lecture or a list of demands. He gives a self-portrait. And what does He highlight? That He is abundant in goodness and truth.

That word abundant means overflowing. Packed to the brim. God isn't casually kind or occasionally patient. He's loaded down with loving-kindness. He's consistent. Unlike us—who wake up one day ready to be generous and the next ready to bite someone's head off—God doesn't have mood swings. He's not unpredictable. He's always good.

But what really hits is how God ties goodness to truth. This isn't a soft, sentimental kind of goodness. It's honest. Solid. His truth means He's faithful. He keeps His word. When He says He's merciful, He means it. When He says He's patient, He doesn't change His mind halfway through the week. God isn't smiling to your face while planning to ditch you the moment you fail again. That's not who He is. The God who loves you in your sin won't quit loving you because you won't stop sinning.

That kind of consistency changes everything. It brings security. You don't have to second-guess where you stand with Him. You're not walking on eggshells with a God who might turn on you. You're being led by a Shepherd who has His "pockets full of candy"—ready to bless, quick to forgive, rich in mercy, steady in His love.

So ask yourself—how would your day look if you really believed this? How would your stress shift? Your relationships? Your outlook? You have a God who is endlessly good, endlessly true, and faithful. He doesn't flinch at your failures. He doesn't play favorites or keep score. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The Lord is your Shepherd. Abundant in goodness and truth. You shall not want.

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Austin Gardner:

I hope you are finding out just how good your God is. The Lord is my shepherd. I am still thinking about the Lord. We have found out that the Lord that's Yahweh, that's I am is my shepherd, I am, is shepherding me. I am and who is I am. Who is God?

Austin Gardner:

Because we are so easily confused about who he is because we've listened to what the church and religion and our parents and our grandparents and society tells us. It's kind of a lot of foolishness gets put into it. But he said I am merciful. Then he said I am gracious, which was another way of saying merciful. Then he said I am slow to anger, I am patient. He made the comment basically that he has a long nose. In other words, he doesn't get breathing crazy and agitated like so many people would. It's not who he is, that's not what he does. And then, in the verse that we're reading from Exodus, you remember that we're letting God tell us who he is.

Austin Gardner:

In Exodus 34, 5 through 7,. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with Moses and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed by Moses and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, god mercifulsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Wow, what does that mean? He is abundant in goodness and truth. Now, I'll be honest with you. We so easily find ourselves getting confused when we read something like that abundance and truth and goodness and truth. It's like, well, goodness is being nice to you and merciful and truth is being harsh into the law. But let's talk about what that means. First off, the word abundant there means he's the leader, he is the chief, he abounds, he's exceedingly plenteous. In other words, he's rich with, he's heavy with riches. He's carrying a load of being rich. Now, what is he rich with? What is he abundant with? What does he have so much of? He has goodness. So what is goodness there? Goodness is his kindness, his doing favors, his benefiting us. It is the word loving kindness that he's using there. It is God is a God of unchanging love. He is a God who is faithful. He is a God who's loyal. He is a God who is merciful. And he said but that's what goodness means. He said I am abundant, I am rich, I am rich, I'm the leader, I'm the number one guy when it comes to being good. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, he is good. You know, we already know this. But God is love and God is good and he's rich. He's rich, he's abundant.

Austin Gardner:

The Bible says in Psalm 134, four through 6, he says it so many times he said his mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. Do you understand what that is? He said look, I'm good all the time, I'm rich all the time. It's not like I have good days and bad days. I am rich all the time. I'm rich all the time. It's not like I have good days and bad days, I am rich all the time.

Austin Gardner:

Uh, the word here abundant and mercy of mercy has to do with covenant. It has to do with the joint obligation between relatives and friends, or host and guest. It's it's like the relationship between a husband and a wife. And he's saying I am good, I keep my word, I am close to you, I am one with you, I stand in solidarity with you, I have a covenant relationship, I gave my word to you and I do not change, I do not lie, I am not changing on this deal. I am good, I am good, I am full of goodness and I'm full of truth. Now, before I stop today, I need to just take a little bit of time with you and help you understand.

Austin Gardner:

When he says I'm full of truth, he said I'm rich in goodness and truth. Well, that word truth there is referring to I keep my word. It's not referring to now I'm real good on goodness, but I'm pretty strong on the law. It's not like I'm real sweet and graceful but I got a lot of rules and I'm rich in my rules. That's not what that's about. He said when I say it, I mean it.

Austin Gardner:

When he said I'm rich in truth, he said when I say it, I mean it. When I tell you I'm good, I mean it. When he said when I say it, I mean it. When I tell you I'm good, I mean it. When I tell you I'm merciful, I mean it and it's who I am. You don't have to worry about me. I'm not going to wake up tomorrow and say, well, I decided to change my mind. I was merciful yesterday, I was a good guy yesterday, but as of today, I change.

Austin Gardner:

That is not what's going on with God. You see, he is rich, he is good, he is full of goodness, but he is the God who keeps his word. He's a God who can't lie. Do you understand? He's the God who cannot lie. He's a God that tells it like it is and means it always, and he's not going to change. That's who God is. So I want you to go back and I want you to think through who God is real quickly, for today he is the God. He is the God, do you remember? He is the God who is abundant in goodness and truth. He's good and he's always faithful. He's always the same faithful. He's always the same.

Austin Gardner:

You know, I knew a guy who had a mother and his mother was one day the sweetest lady and the next day she could be mean. And you never knew. You had to walk on pins and needles. You know, you know what I'm talking about. Are they good or they're bad? Are they on or they're off? I knew a guy that said she couldn't be pleased. He didn't know. But that's not who God is. That's not who God is.

Austin Gardner:

You don't have to wake up tomorrow and say I wonder if God's going to be good to me. Today. He's rich in goodness. Always he's full of truth. He doesn't change, he doesn't lie. That's who he is. Is he's full of truth? He doesn't change, he doesn't lie. That's who he is. Is God going to be merciful today? He's truth, he is what he says, he is. He's not two-faced. He's not your friend when he's looking at you and not when he's behind your back. He doesn't say one thing to your face and another thing to your back. He's merciful, he's gracious, he is slow to anger and he is abundant, rich, overflowing with goodness and truth.

Austin Gardner:

So as you go about today, you think about your dad. I see I want you each day to just kind of meditate on the truth about who the lord is. I want you to know he's. He's not going to change. The god who loves you. It's not going to hate you tomorrow. The god who loves you is not going to hate you tomorrow. The God who saved you is not going to dump you tomorrow.

Austin Gardner:

The God who loves you in your sin won't quit loving you because you won't quit sinning Now. You could sin against him, but he'll just keep loving you because he's just full of long-suffering goodness and he's always the same. That gives us security, always the same. That gives us security. That gives us security. It means that you can wake up tomorrow and know it's okay. You can mess up today and like, well, I didn't want to mess up. I was wrong, I shouldn't have messed up, but God is good to me and he's always good and he always takes care of me. If you'll bear that in mind, if you'll keep that in mind, I think you're going to be very happy all day long.

Austin Gardner:

Thinking about this, the guy who is your shepherd is rich, abundant in goodness and truth. So the guy leading you around today, he just loaded down with being good to you. His pockets are full of candy, don't forget. He's indulgent, don't forget he's sweet, don't forget he doesn't get angry quickly. He loves you. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want you think about that today. The Lord who is he? Abundant in goodness and truth.