Psalm 34:8 tells us, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Oftentimes, we will hear somebody say that God is “good.” In the Bible, we find that Jesus Himself says “No one is good—except God alone” (Luke 18:19b). But what does it mean that God is “good?” Keep reading to find out!
The truth that God is good means that He cannot do any form of evil. He is incapable of evil. God is only light—there is no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5). This means that God is 100% kind, loving, and caring towards us. He never has ulterior motives against us and He never tries to hurt us. What God tells us in the Bible is for our betterment. God would never do anything to hurt or harm us. He absolutely hates sin and He does not wa-nt us to participate in any type of sinful behavior (Proverbs 6:16-19). Therefore, it is impossible for God to be bad, evil, or sinful.
When Jesus took on human flesh, He was tempted by the devil; however, He never sinned (1 Peter 2:22; Hebrews 4:15). Knowing that God is good should bring great solace and peace to our souls. Since God is good, He can be completely trusted. The Lord is not like people. He does not change or have double meanings to what He says to us. God loves us unconditionally and that will never change. God is so good that He sent His Son to die for our sins (John 3:16-17). If God wasn’t good, He could have just left us to die in our sins without hope and without redemption. But He didn’t. He chose to redeem us and save us.
Many times we think God is “picking on us” because He didn’t answer our prayer in the exact way we wanted Him to. This can cause us to doubt God’s goodness. We should not doubt God’s goodness simply because He doesn't answer our prayer right away or in the exact way we wanted. It could be that God is actually protecting you by not answering your prayer. Many times, the things we pray for are not in God’s will for our lives. When we pray to God, He can answer in one of three ways. He can either answer in "yes", "no", or "not now". If your prayers are unanswered, give them some time and wait for God to answer them. If your prayers are in accordance with His will, He will answer, but it just might be delayed. This should not cause you to question God’s goodness, though. Instead of questioning His goodness, we need to give thanks for God’s goodness. It is because of God’s goodness that we are here today, have redemption, and will have eternal life with Him one day.
The goodness of God can be seen in our everyday lives. He wakes us up each morning, blesses us with oxygen in our lungs, and protects us as we go about our day (Carrie Lowrance, “What Does it Mean That God Is Good? 5 Examples in Everyday Life,” Crosswalk, 2018). In a snap of His fingers, God could completely end life as we know it. It is because of His goodness and love that we are living today. God is good because He consistently keeps us safe and provides for us. This doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen to us again, but it does mean that God protects us in ways we may never be able to fathom on this side of heaven.
His goodness pours out into every area of our lives and His goodness can be extended through others into our lives. How many times have you had a family member or friend call you or text you right at the moment of breaking down with excessive sorrow? Or how many times have you felt completely washed out with frustration and God gave an encouraging message to you in your Bible reading? All of these things are ways God has shown His goodness to us. God is our good, good Father and He loves us beyond measure. Just as no good earthly father would harm his child, neither would God harm His child (Luke 11:11-13).
God is so good that He forgives us of our sins when we ask Him. No matter what we have done, God is able to forgive us because His mercies are ever abounding. Even though it can be difficult for us to forgive other people when they hurt us, God forgives us on the account of the blood of Jesus Christ. When you find yourself overwhelmed with sorrow, regret, and unforgiveness, turn to the Lord. His goodness will overflow and drown out your negative feelings and thoughts. After all, His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).
His goodness should compel us to sing praises to God. 1 Chronicles 16:23 says, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.” Because of God’s goodness, we need to praise, worship, and shout aloud to the Savior of our souls. The very fact that I've written this article and you are reading it right now attests to God’s goodness. We would be nothing if we did not have God. God is good because of His nature, His love, and His entire being. There is nothing bad in God at all. Evil does not live inside our great and glorious God. Since God is good, He created everything as good, including us (Genesis 1:31).
It wasn’t until the Fall of Man that everything turned bad and the world became polluted with sin. As Christians, we need to reflect on the goodness of God and give thanks for His amazing grace that redeemed us despite our sin and shame. Rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, we need to set our eyes and hope on God. His goodness will never fail us, even if we doubt Him.
When we set our hearts and minds on God, we will be happier and more joyful people. We will not grow weary or lose heart because we know God is good and He will always come through. Even if God doesn’t answer all of our prayers during our earthly lives, we know that we are already blessed because we have eternity with God in heaven to look forward to.
God is good, so we can fully count on Him. Every promise God makes to us in the Bible can be trusted. He never tells lies and He never hurts us (Hebrews 6:18). Sin, pain, and death can hurt us, but God will never harm us. In the future, when we are with Christ, all of the evil and sin in the world will just be a memory. All we will be focused on is serving and praising our good, good God. May our hearts and voices always sing in worship of the good Lord God Almighty!
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