Our God Is A Good God

Mary Jo spent part of her spring vacation with her Grandmother. When she returned home, her mother asked, “Were you a good girl?”

“Mom, I was so good that I could hardly stand it,” she replied. “It’s a wonder I had any fun I was so good.”

The word “good” is difficult to measure. There is no “good-er” or “good-est.”  Why? Because the word good is only applicable to God. And we must never forget that it is not possible for God to improve on anything He does or do anything any “good-er.”

On one occasion when Jesus was starting on a trip, a man came running up to Him and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get into heaven?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good!” 

His reply did not disclaim that He, too, was good.  On the contrary! He claimed and proclaimed His goodness when He confessed that He was God!

Unfortunately, the young man regarded Jesus as a human teacher only. For him to attach the word “good” to a mere human being was a bad thing because of his religious beliefs.  So, it was necessary for him to understand that only God is good and that no one other than God is, in fact, good. Jesus is good because He is God.

 Whenever we think of ourselves, we must always remember who we are, how we think, and that we are human. When we think of God, however, we must shout with the Psalmist, “Give thanks to God for He is good!” 

Prayer:  Thank you, Father, that You are good and in Your goodness, we see Your love, mercy, grace, and salvation. Thank You for being what we are not. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture For Today:  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 107:1

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What's So Good About God?

“Wow!” said an associate as a group of us left a restaurant after a dinner meeting. “That was a really good meal!”

“Good?” questioned another. “What do you mean good? That’s one of the worst meals I’ve ever paid for. It was horrible!”

“Not so fast,” said another. “Part of it was really bad and part was fairly good. At least, that’s my opinion.”

“Good” is in the eye of the beholder. You and I might experience the same event together - as the meal mentioned above - but have entirely different opinions about it. But when the author of Psalm 100 was ending his thoughts about God, he said, “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever.” He was convinced that “God was good.” In fact, this entire Psalm is written as a Psalm that expresses his reasons to give thanks to God.

Years ago when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christ they searched for a word in their language that they could all agree upon that expressed the character of the divine Being of the Bible.

They described stories of His faithfulness, His grace, His holiness, His mercy, His power, His love, His salvation and asked, “What one word will express all of these words?” After a discussion they all agreed: “The good!” And “good” is the old English word for “God.”

When we look at the “big picture” of all that God has done for us, to us and in us, it is certainly appropriate for us to describe Him, as they did, as “The Good.”

Prayer: Father, when we consider all of Your ways and the wonder of Your works we too agree, our Lord is Good! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

Discovering The Goodness Of God

If God is good, why do the godly have grief? If God is fair, why do the faithful fail? If God cares, why does He allow Christians to have cancer? If God is powerful, why are innocent people murdered?

And why are the ungodly prosperous? Why are the ungodly happy? Why are the ungodly recipients of any good thing? After all, they are ungodly!

The writer of Psalm 73 had a problem with bad people living godless lives and receiving earthly rewards. He was a bit angry when he saw their lavish lives. They appeared to have everything their hearts desired, lived lives of ease and were healthy. Their riches multiplied even though they scoffed at God and threatened His children. What’s up?

So the writer of the Psalm became vain. He avoided evil and when he sinned he immediately confessed and asked God to forgive him. He read God’s Word, engaged in prayer and tried to live a godly life. But all he got from God was trouble: all day, every day! Finally he asked God, “Am I wasting my time? Why should I bother to be godly?”

Fortunately, he went to the right place for an answer. “Finally,” he concluded when he went to the sanctuary to worship, “I understood their end!” Wrongs in this life will be corrected in the next! Remember: Dives lived in pleasure and Lazarus in pain. But there came a day when things were reversed: Dives was tormented by flames and Lazarus went to live lavishly in his Father’s Home.

The ungodly leave their treasures at death but the godly only begin to enjoy theirs with their Father.

Prayer: Give us a strong faith, Father, to look beyond what is to what will be when we are at last with You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Psalm 73:12 This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

God Is Good

Only God can be called “good.” And His very name comes from His “goodness.” When “good” and “goodness” are shortened, we end up with “God.”

Everything that comes from God - His creation or consul, His laws and love, His promises and provisions - must be good because the nature of God Himself is “good!”

God is not good to us if we are good, nor does He treat us bad if we are bad. Those who say, “God won’t be good to you if you are bad” do not understand God nor who He is.

The Psalmist did. He wrote, “The Lord is good to all!”

We recognize God’s goodness in the way He provided for our salvation. After a young Brahman interviewed a missionary, he said, “Hinduism has many things which Christianity has. But there is one thing which you have that we do not have - a Savior.” We have a Savior because of God’s goodness. It was His goodness that flowed from His love that He sent His Son to be our Savior. Only a “Good God” would make such a supreme sacrifice to make salvation possible which is available “to all!”

We realize God’s goodness in the way He met the needs of everyone. The food that grows in fields, on bushes and branches, vines and beneath the soil was first planted by God for everyone. The water, which God gave us for survival, falls on the “just and the unjust.” Why?

Again, the Psalmist said: “His tender mercies are over all.”

God is good. But one day, all will stand before Him in judgment and be asked: “Is my Son your Savior?”

Prayer: Lord, we recognize Your eternal goodness and grace and ask Your forgiveness and cleansing for our sins. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

Great Hands And Greater Heart

Our Lord has hands that give and a heart that forgives. The closing words of David in Psalm 23 exclaim, “Surely your goodness and unfailing mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life!”

The word goodness in this verse refers to all of the gracious gifts that God will lavishly bestow on those who are His own. It includes kindness, love and loyalty as well as the fact that He will meet our every physical need.

Mercy in this verse assures us that the Lord will forgive our sins when we call on Him. It leaves no doubt that our God is the “God of mercy.” He alone is responsible for providing the gift of His salvation to those who call upon Him. And furthermore, it assures us that He will forgive us for those times when we fail Him and sin as we strive to grow into the likeness of His Son and, unfortunately, fail.

This goodness and mercy that David writes about are neither conditional nor temporary. It is with us today and will be with us as long as we live – “all the days of our lives” – that is, until we enter His house and dwell with Him forever more.

How wonderful it is to know that our Lord goes before us and is always alongside of us waiting to meet our every need – spiritually, emotionally and physically.
What a wonderful Shepherd is ours!

Prayer: Lord, we rejoice in the greatness of our salvation, knowing that we need fear nothing or no one because You are with us all day, every day! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Psalm 23:6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.