God is good all the time…
…all the time God is good!!!
Do you remember one of the first prayers we learned as kids? “God is great, God is GOOD, let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed. Give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen.”
Then we were introduced to the song “God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He is so good to me.”
In Psalm 100:5 -we read, “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
Throughout the Bible we are reminded of the goodness of God. As we study the attributes of God we realize it is His very nature to be good.
Because God is good and full of mercy we receive the benefits of His goodness. Upon our repentance we are not only forgiven but we are granted a pardon, “old things pass away all things become new”. Our pastor recently stated that a born again believer has no past.
In His goodness we have access to Him. We can pray to God and He not only hears our prayers He answers each prayer. Oftentimes we consider a prayer unanswered because God does not do exactly what we ask Him to do.
For me at times the reason He doesn‘t give me the answer I desire is because of His goodness. He has something better. He see the whole picture from the “beginning to the end“.
Another great benefit of His goodness is the gift of His Holy Spirit to live in us that we may have fellowship with God at all times. The fellowship is realized as a result of His presence. It is a trust relationship that assures us that regardless of what happens the results will reveal His goodness.
The goodness of God is not always visible to us. Difficult times come and bad situations cause bad things to happen to us. In these times we face problems. Disappointments come and we find ourselves in a deep valley. We question the goodness of God. If God is good why am I experiencing bad times?
If God is good why did my mother die of a heart attack at the young age of 63? If God is good why are so many people being tortured and beheaded today because of their allegiance to their faith in God?
If God is good why are we facing such tragedies across our state, our nation our world? Why are bad things happening to good people? Again I am reminded that when God created this world He said “It is good”.
Could it be that God allows valleys so He can build mountains in our lives? Yes, God is in charge. In fact the Bible teaches us that He is the Sovereign God.
The little boy was lying on the floor and he looked up to see what Grandma had in her lap. She was sewing away doing a cross stitch design. The grandson said to his grandma “that is the ugliest thing I have ever seen.”
Grandma invited him to stand up and look over her shoulder. As he looked at the design of the cross-stitching from the top view he did not see the knots and the hanging strands of thread. He quickly stated “Grandma that is one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen.”
I am not trying to be pious or pharisaical but it takes some knots and hanging threads, the good and bad things that happens, for God to create the person He knew would make the best person you could ever be. I know it is hard for some of us to believe that God is creating a beautiful person but He is.
If it is not good it did not come from our good God. He alone is the source for good not bad. In His wisdom He allows situations that seem to be bad and from that experience we are molded into an individual that exhibits the goodness of God.
The main problem is we use the wrong standard for goodness. We adhere to the standard of goodness set by the world. Goodness today is measured by what is good for me.
Let me encourage you to submit to and trust the One that is the source of all goodness. He will never let you down. It does not mean that you will never experience bad things. It simply means that He is able to take the bad things and demonstrate His power to cause the bad to become eternally good.
God is good all the time…
All the time God is good!!!