God is great and God is good. Amen?
I like meditating on who God is – his holy character and his many amazing attributes. The goodness of God is mentioned repeatedly in the Psalms. Here are eight great passages that extol our Lord for his goodness, along with a few comments to stimulate your gratitude and worship.
Psalm 13:5-6
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
1) v. 6 — God’s goodness is reason to praise God. “For” means “because.” I will sing the Lord’s praise because of his goodness.
2) v. 6 — God’s goodness is personal. He has been good to me.
3) v. 5 — God’s goodness to me is closely related to his unfailing love for me.
4) v. 5 — God’s goodness is closely related to his salvation. His salvation is one of the many ways he demonstrates his goodness to me.
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.
1) Again, God’s goodness and love are closely related.
2) I can depend on God’s goodness and love every day – all the days of my life, I will experience the goodness of God. That includes all those “bad” days, when “bad” things happen.
3) The goodness of God has a future aspect. God has promised his goodness to me today, tomorrow, and forever. God has promised to be good to me forever; this future aspect of his goodness means I can be optimistic about the future; my best days are yet to come. He demonstrates his goodness with this promise: I will live with him forever! God demonstrates his goodness by telling me that my eternal destiny is to be in his comforting presence, “in the house of the Lord,” forever, i.e. trillions of years.
Psalm 25:7
Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good.
1) God’s goodness is again related to his love. Because God is good, he will not “remember” my sins and my rebellious ways – i.e. he treats me as if I had never sinned; that’s amazing grace in action. Because he has forgiven me, it’s as if he has “forgotten” all my sins – he does not hold them against me today, nor will he do so on Judgment Day.
Psalm 25:8
Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
1) There’s a relationship between God’s goodness and his uprightness. He is good = He is always right and always does the right thing. His goodness is related to His righteousness/moral perfection/holiness.
2) God demonstrates his goodness by teaching sinners how to live a righteous life — how to live a life of moral purity, how to do the right thing, how to be more like Jesus.
Psalm 27:13
I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
1) Again, God’s goodness has a future aspect: I will experience God’s goodness today, tomorrow, and forever.
Psalm 31:19
How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you.
1) God provides good things for his people. These good things are gifts; they are demonstrations of grace and mercy. We do not deserve or earn them; he bestows them freely, simply because he chose to do so.
2) There are many of these good things! There is an abundance of them!
3) There are so many of these gifts, God stores them up for us. He doesn’t give them to us all at once. There is an unlimited supply available, to be distributed according to God’s timetable, at his discretion, when he deems it best.
4) These gifts are easily identifiable. They can be seen and received by everyone – like the sunshine and the rain, per Matthew 5:45.
Psalm 34:8-10
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
1) The goodness of God can and should be experienced personally. Like food, it can be tasted. Like the sunset, it can be seen. It is real. If I am not experiencing God’s goodness, it’s my fault, not God’s. If I do not taste and see the goodness of God, I’m like the blind referee who is missing a good game.
2) God’s goodness means he will meet all my needs (not wants). Because God is good, I will never lack anything that I need.
3) God’s goodness is demonstrated to all people, believers and nonbelievers alike (again, per Matthew 5:45). At the same time, God’s goodness comes in special ways to believers. Note the repeated references to the people of God as the recipients of the goodness of God: “the one who takes refuge in him . . . his holy people . . . those who fear him . . . those who seek the Lord.”
Psalm 52:9
For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.
1) God’s goodness is demonstrated through God’s actions on behalf of his people. How do I know God is good? Look at “what he has done” to see the evidence.
2) God’s goodness provides ample reason to praise, thank, and worship God. No matter what happens, the believer never has a valid excuse for not exalting God for his goodness.
3) God’s goodness is the basis of our hope. Our future is secure because “your name is good.”
Enjoy your day, and the rest of your life, because God is good!
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