The Goodness Of God

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever .” NKJV

David , the shepherd boy , knew one or two things about the goodness of God when he wrote Psalm 23. In verse 6, he talked about the goodness of God. So, what is the goodness of God? Is it something that we should desire? How can we experience it?

Merriam-Webster Webster Dictionary defines “goodness” as:

“Quality or state of being good”.

Other words that you can use to describe goodness are :

“Character, morality, decency, righteousness, honesty etc”

In the Bible, there are two types of goodness that we can see. There is the goodness that is an attribute or character of God. When we say that “God is a good God”, we mean that it is in his nature to be good. That is who he is. He is not an evil or wicked God. He is a God that wants to daily “load his children with benefits”. He is not an old man, standing aloof, waiting for man to commit a sin and come after him with a big stick.

No Sir!

God is loving father, kind, wonderful ,gentle, fair, just and a giver of great gifts.

Goodness is in his very essence.

Let us see how God describes himself.

In the Book of Exodus, Moses had asked God to show him his glory. In addition, he had asked for God’s presence to go with them in the wilderness, as they journeyed to the Promised Land. In Exodus 33:19:

“And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”

Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” NKJV

In Exodus 34: 5-7:

“Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” NKJV

The second type of “goodness” that we can see in the Bible are the benefits that God bestows on those that he loves and favors.

We can see several examples of these blessings liberally sprinkled in the Bible. For example, in Psalm 31:19-20:

“Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.” NKJV

In Jeremiah 31:13-14:

““Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to joy, Will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow. I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.” NKJV

In Jeremiah 33:6-11:

“Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return and will rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’ “

Thus says the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, “It is desolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:“Praise the Lord of hosts,For the Lord is good,For His mercy endures forever”—and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.” NKJV