Psalm 119:68

You are good, and what you do is good;

    teach me your decrees.

Oh the goodness of God!  He is good and what He does is good.  It’s all good!

Our understanding of goodness doesn’t even come close to the goodness of God, though.  We’ve honestly cheapened and decreased the meaning of the word good. 

That was some good pizza.

They played a good game.

Pumpkin spice is good. (Blach!)

That song is really good.

God is good.

God’s goodness is so, so much “gooder”, better, than anything that we call good. God’s goodness is exceptionally gooder than even the goodest thing that we can imagine!  In fact, Jesus directly approached this subject as recorded here:

Mark 10:17-18

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good – except God alone.

There is no good that we can experience in this world that even begins to compare to God’s goodness.  Even Jesus, God in the flesh, the living Word of God, did not permit a comparison to be made between His own goodness and the goodness of the Father. 

Although Jesus said that if you saw Him, you saw the Father (John 14:9), He very directly and intentionally made it clear that nothing compares to the goodness of God.  Jesus, God being wrapped in the weakness and temptations of flesh, did not allow Himself to be labelled as good in that state.

I love this quote regarding the goodness of God:

“God is better than we think, so we have to change the way we think.” ~ Bill Johnson

God is good and what He does is good.

This is what I love about the goodness of God.  God’s goodness is not just a theological concept to study and intellectually believe.  God’s goodness is something that we get to experience!

Psalm 34:8

Taste and see that the Lord is good

When we experience the goodness of God, when we are fully convinced that God is good and all that God does is good, it radically transforms our lives. 

It strengthens and increases our faith.  It gives us assurance and confidence in approaching God and seeking after Him.  It invokes a spirit of generosity within us.  It gives us peace and certainty in every season of life, especially when we can’t see and don’t understand what God is doing.  We know that God is good and God does good.

When we are fully convinced that God is good and that all God does is good, it takes the pressure of needing to perform off of us.  God is so good that even if I miss it, even if I sin, I can repent, be forgiven, receive mercy and grace.  I can confidently know that God can still do good in and through my life, even through my mistakes.

God, who is good and who does good, can bring life from death, beauty from ashes, bring joy from mourning, and praise from despair (Isaiah 61:3).

Being fully convinced of this gives us perseverance and endurance through seasons that aren’t good from our worldly perspective because we know that it is going to end in goodness.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

David had such an assurance.  His life revealed that He knew that God was good and that all that He did was good.  Listen to what he wrote from that place of believing that God is good and that God does good.

Psalm 27

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation –

    whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life –

    of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked advance against me

    to devour me,

it is my enemies and my foes

    who will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,

    my heart will not fear;

though war break out against me,

    even then I will be confident.

4 One thing I ask from the Lord,

    this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord