The Goodness of God
Scripture
Psalm 25:1-8
Key Verse –
Taste and see that the
Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8
Study
Tozer writes,
“The goodness of God us that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial,
benevolent, and full of good will toward men.”
It is
difficult to turn to any page in the Bible and not see a reference
to God’s goodness. It can be related to His faithfulness or His
mercy, but it is different. God may be good because of His
faithfulness or mercy, but neither attribute causes Him to be good.
Like His goodness of mercy however, God’s goodness is unmerited.
We do nothing
to deserve the good things that He bestows upon us. There is a song
that sums this concept up well. “When we get what we don’t deserve,
that’s a real good thing. When we don’t get what we deserve, that’s
a real good thing.”
Although there
are many promises of goodness reserved for the Christian, God’s
goodness is not just reserved for the righteous. Matthew 5:45 tells
us that God causes the rain to fall upon both the righteous and the
wicked.
Worship
Many people
worship God because of what they perceive as an advantage of what
God can do for them. There are those who come to church who have no
understanding of salvation but rather think of God as a sort of
cosmic butler who is waiting upon their beck and call. Even many
Christians see God as their own servant and believe that He owes
them for worshipping Him.
But because
God’s goodness is not conditional to only Christians, we have no
understanding of how it is distributed, so to speak. Christians
experience great troubles in life while at times the most wicked
appear to enjoy the best in life. Make no mistake that this is only
temporary as God’s holiness demands justice.
We must have
the attitude of Job however and seek to worship God despite our
situation. Job worshipped God in both prosperity and poverty. In
Job 13:15 he decreed “Though
he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to
his face.”
God’s goodness
is not conditional on our worship. Our worship should not be
conditional based on what we perceive to be God’s goodness.
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