Day 50 – Goodness (Part 1)
If God is good, and if I am part of His creation, why has my life been so painful—and even bad—at times?
Day 50 – Goodness (Part 1)
Psalm 23:6 — “Surely goodness…”
Yesterday, we talked about how goodness and mercy follow us. It’s important to understand that before we can unpack what they are. It’s going to take some extra time to unwrap both of them, so here we go.
That leads us to this question: What is this goodness that is pursuing me?
After David tells us that goodness and lovingkindness pursue him, it’s worth stopping to ask what he means by goodness.
The Hebrew word is tov, a common word in the Bible. It’s the word that repeatedly describes the creation of the world in Genesis 1, when God looks upon His work and says that it is “good.” It describes something that is beneficial, beautiful, fitting and pleasing according to God’s design.
That gives us a starting place. God doesn’ just do good things.
God is good.
His goodness is not something He does occasionally or chooses to display from time to time. It’s part of who He is.
Psalm 34:8 invites us to examine His goodness, “O taste and see that the LORD is good.”
Psalm 100:5 declares, “For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
But there is a difficulty here, isn’t there? If God is good, and if I am part of His creation, why has my life been so painful—and even bad—at times?
David could have asked the same question. He walked through valleys, faced enemies, experienced betrayal, and suffered loss. He mourned and wept, feared and worried. He cried out to God about his very real feelings of loneliness and fear. He could hardly have mistaken life for an uninterrupted string of pleasant circumstances.
Yet he still said, “Surely goodness…”
David learned that God’s goodness can’t be measured by our circumstances. The valley of the shadow of death wasn’t good. Neither was being hunted by Saul or being betrayed.
If we aren’t careful, we will find ourselves tempted to judge God’s character by the circumstances of a particular day. When something great happens, we say, “God is good.” When something bad happens, we wonder where His goodness went.
But God’s goodness does not rise and fall with our circumstances. He remains good when the pasture is green and when the valley is dark.
More tomorrow…
