"God is good." Those of us who love the LORD our God, have
confessed Jesus Christ as our LORD, and repented of our sins, often use the
phrase "God is good". And for good reason. Professing Christians who have
truly been saved have every reason to proclaim "God is good". The Bible, from the very first
chapter in Genesis, makes it clear God is all about goodness. Every
time He created something new, He called it "good". God even
determined when something was not good, and immediately made it good. In
Genesis 2:18-25 He saw it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He created Eve
to be Adam's wife.
More often than not, when someone uses the expression "God is
good", we also hear another respond "All the time". “God is good, all
the time.” This phrase is often used when believers are surprisingly blessed,
or when believers have prayers answered. During times
of congregational worship "God is good, all the
time" is frequently used to give God glory. Nothing surprising here. We
who have had are sins forgiven should glorify the Father God, because He has found it
good to forgive us of our sins. We have every reason to declare, “God is good”,
and that He is good “all of the time”.
One day I realized the declaration "God is good, all the
time" was said only when something particularly good happens in a person’s life. When someone
gives a testimony of healing, especially from a rather serious illness, the
testimony is often followed by "God is good", and then another would
immediately add "all the time". The phrase also is heard when a
sinner is saved, or a financial blessing is received, or when any of a
whole plethora of blessings are being experienced by a believer.
Strangely, I do not believe I have ever heard anyone say, "God is good" when mourning an untimely death, or during a forced bankruptcy, or when suffering any kind of great hardship or loss. Let's think about that for a
moment. If God is good, and if He is good all of the time, then He is always good during
any serious illness, any serious financial difficulty, any serious breakdown in a
relationship, or for that matter in any kind of serious trial or tribulation. God
is good no matter what the situation might be.
A thought came to my mind (just a thought) that the phrase
"God is good", which is considered incomplete unless the
words "all the time" are added, still remains an incomplete phrase. It
seems to me, if we are going to glorify God by saying "God is good"
and then tack on the words "all the time; the words
"no matter what" also need to be included to properly complete the
phrase; to properly capture all the times and circumstances when our God is good.
Let me take this thought one step further. If we are going to use
the phrase "God is good, all the time" and then also include the words
"no matter what", we are then, by definition, free to (or more correctly stated) obligated
to make that statement - no matter what is going on in our life. No matter what
our trials are, what our sicknesses are, what our bills are, what our legal
troubles are, what our political challenges are, or what our spiritual
difficulties are we need to remember we are a Child of God, saved from our
sins, bound for eternity to one glorious day be with our Savior, the LORD Jesus
Christ, for ever and ever. We need to remember and to be willing to testify “God is good - all the time - no
matter what”.
I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good
thing.” Psalms 16:2
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher,
what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There
is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” Matthew 19:16-17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming
down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting
shadows. James 1:17
And we know that in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
To keep me from becoming conceited because of
these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a
messenger of Satan, to torment me. 2 Corinthians 12:7
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