The goodness of God

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” Luke 12,32 (NKJV)

God is good! The Lord is good. In Matthew 5,45, Jesus pointed out that the Father “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”.

God’s goodness is not tied to our own goodness as people. It is His nature.

His goodness stems from mercy and generosity. God gives to all freely and without reproach.

God does not delight in withholding good from us. On the contrary, He finds pleasure in lavishing us with good things, loading us with daily benefits. God is a giver. God is generous. He loves to give.

God’s goodness translates into favor and grace. The kind of grace that we never thought about: the grace that went before us/ ahead of us. The favor that we never thought we needed.

God is worthy of our praise for His goodness in our lives.

 “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.

“Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.” Nehemiah 9,16-21 (NIV)

The portion of Scripture above narrates the story of the Israelites coming out of Egypt; out of slavery.

God gave them guidance, instruction and provision. He relentlessly cared for them even when they couldn’t care less about Him. This is the God who created us; slow to anger, abounding in love.

It is with such truths that we are able to cast out fear from our hearts.

The Bible says in 1 John 4,18 (CSB): “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.”

The one who fears does not have a complete revelation of God’s love. Like the Amplified Bible version explains it; the one who fears “is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love].”

This is a gauge against which we can examine ourselves. When a person remembers the love that God has for them, they get the power to refuse fear in their hearts. It becomes easier to trust a God that we know, for sure, loves us and cares for us.

The Lord is good. He will do you good. He wants to do you good every single day of your life.

"For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

How great are Your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep." Psalm 92,4-5 (NASB1995)