The God of All Good: We Serve an Unchangeably Good God

We serve an amazingly good God. Indeed, King David calls us in Psalms 34:8 (NIV) to taste and see His goodness for ourselves – jump into the bulging and expanding ever flowing stream of it all - if you will - when he writes: “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Blessed indeed. God is utterly, wonderfully and unchangeably good. He is the never ending overflowing stream of pure goodness and mercy towards His own. He bestows upon His children freely and graciously the ultimate good things of this life. Those who trust in Him will lack no good thing. King David writes in Psalm 34:10 (NIV): “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” Indeed, God has a keen interest in all the common mercies we greatly enjoy – the sun shining, the birds singing, the flowers blooming, changing seasons and the myriad of other blessings we receive straight from His mighty Hand – day by day by day. We serve an amazingly good God.   

Everything is sent by God. Proverbs 21:1 (NIV) tells us that even the hearts of men are in the Hand of God and He turns them like a watercourse wherever He pleases. And our portions from His Hand never grow smaller but stretch further and further as He becomes greater and greater in our lives and all else becomes less – so much less - even ourselves. Yet, sadly, oftentimes our perceptions and realities do not grasp this Truth. His goodness appears in packages wrapped in things not of our choosing. Life can be very difficult. Extremely difficult. We live in a fallen and broken world where pain abounds. It was not easy for Jesus either when He walked this dusty earth. Also, we oftentimes have worldly eyes unable to grasp the true blessings He has bestowed and continues to bestow upon our lives. Yet, when we fix our eyes on Jesus – the Author and Perfecter of our faith - rather than the world, His blessings become bigger and more obvious and earthly pain, losses and trinkets become smaller. Remember as well, heaven is our home, earth our sojourn there.  

We perhaps believe God is good because we are told it, but we do not feel it or experience it on an earthly level – His goodness seems so hard to grasp within our present circumstances. While God is a storehouse of treasures and pleasures, ours can feel quite empty, Amen? There often remains within us a war between our affections and our conditions which produces murmurings, envious grumblings and complaining’s making these hearts of ours unsatisfied. We need to change our focus. How can God be glorified in our lives through these circumstances? Oh Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear and wills to obey.  

God’s good and perfect gifts are seasoned by His love and He gives us grace sufficient to meet all our needs. Our contentment is not to lie in abundance or perfection or people or achievements or anything worldly – rather in Jesus. It is He Who gives us the contentment of our hearts in our estates. Contentment is also a learned secret, the Apostle Paul tells us. Further, we can do all things through Him Who gives us strength. Remember, God’s goodness laces both the giving and the taking. The God Who gives me good is also working for my good in all things. We can trust Him with our lives and in the lives of all we hold dear.

Look around and see all His Hand has provided. God is the Giver of all good whether we are able to ascertain this or not, in the end it will prove to be all so true. God’s good gifts are seasoned by His love and are much better than the bounty of the wicked. Remember as well both the hills and the valleys carry us closer to heaven, leading us home where there is no darkness only goodness. One nano second in heaven all things will be made pristinely clear.