God's Goodness

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8, ESV)

God Is Good

In tough times, it has become common for Christians to say, “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.” This is a very true statement—one strongly backed up by scripture. 

We repeatedly read statements like: “Taste and see that the LORD is good!” (Psalm 34:8) and “For the LORD is good” (Psalm 100:5, 2 Chronicles 5:13, Ezra 3:11, Jeremiah 33:11, Nahum 1:7) and “Good and upright is the LORD” (Psalm 25:8) and “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good” (Psalm 106:1). We also see this in Jesus’ words, “No one is good except God alone.” (Luke 18:19). 

What is Good?

To take things deeper, we have to ask: What is good? Or another question: How do we know something is good? 

Throughout history, people have answered this question in many ways. To keep things simply, I will use Wayne Grudem’s definition of “good” to mean “worthy of approval.” If something is good, it is worthy of approval. 

Yet, as Grudem points out, we have to ask: Worthy of WHOSE approval? He answers the question saying, “We are not free to decide by ourselves what is worthy of approval and what is not. Ultimately, therefore, God’s being and actions are perfectly worthy of his own approval. He is therefore the final standard of good.” (p. 198). I encourage you to take a moment to re-read that statement and dwell on it for a few minutes. There’s a lot there. 

God Gives Good Gifts

This means that all good must flow from God AND we can have NO GOOD apart from God. We see this in scripture: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…” (James 1:17). Since EVERY good gift comes from above, any gift that does NOT come from above is not good. Apart from God, we have no good things. 

However, God has promised to give good things to his children We read in the Psalms “No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11). We also read a powerful promise in Romans: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). And in Matthew we read, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). 

God Does Good Things

As the source of all good, God not only GIVES good things, but he DOES good things. After creating the heavens and the earth we read, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31). In a prayer to God, the Psalmist says, “You are good and do good” (Psalm 119:68).

Since God does good things, we read in Ezra, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him” (Ezra 8:22) and Paul can write in Romans, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). 

The Standard of Goodness

When we say “God is good,” we are saying that he is the standard of all goodness—the epitome of goodness. That means we must measure everything against this standard. In order for something to be “good” it must be approved by God. If God says it is good, it is good—no questions asked. If God says it isn’t good, it isn’t good—no questions asked. 

As simply as this sounds, it is essential for us to understand how to live in the world. We have a tendency to question God, thinking, “Well, God says this isn’t good, but that doesn’t make sense to me. It seems good to me. So it must be alright.” NO. That’s not how things work. We must look to God in order to understand what is good. 

This is why we’re told, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2). The world will try to tell us what is good. Yet, we must not measure good according to the world’s standards. God is the standard. So, we need to have our minds transformed so that we measure everything according to God’s standard. Then we will understand “what is good.” 

The Good We Seek

Ultimately, when we say “God is good” we need to understand one important thing: God is the ultimate good we seek in everything. “It is [God] toward whom all creatures, consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, strive, the object of every creature’s desire. A creature finds no rest except in God alone” (Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2.212). This is why the Psalmist cries out, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25–26).