Goodness & Love
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
The goodness and love of God are the attributes that He has which act as the anchor or ‘litmus test’ for His other attributes; goodness and love are the features that authenticate every other attribute of God. God is good; God’s mercy is good; God’s grace is good; God’s holiness is good; God’s righteousness is good; God’s immutability is good; God’s justice is good; God’s sovereignty and self-existence are good; God’s eternality is good; God’s omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience and Immanence are good; God’s transcendence is good – AND THEY ALL ARE AS A RESULT OF HIS LOVE: BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (I John 4:16).
So in Good Times: Or Bad Times:
All that God is and does is good.
” Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes “ (Psalm 119:68).
God’s goodness and love last forever.
” O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever “ (Psalm 107:1).
God is good to everyone.
” The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works “ (Psalm 145:9).
Everything God made was good.
” And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day “ (Genesis 1:31).
God has goodness stored up for us.
” Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! “ (Psalm 31:19).
Everything from God is good.
” For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving “ (1 Timothy 4:4).
All things that are good are from God.
” Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning “ (James 1:17).
God alone is Good
“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:16-17).
” For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly “ (Psalm 84:11).
When We Remember These We Realise That:
We are blessed through God’s goodness.
” O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him “ (Psalm 34:8).
Goodness can come from all circumstances.
” And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose “ (Romans 8:28).
His goodness leads to repentance.
” According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue “ (2 Peter 1:3).
” Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? “ (Romans 2:4, NKJV)
God’s goodness is our shelter
” O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him “ (Psalm 34:8).
God is good in His entirety, there is nothing about God that is not good even His wrath is good. There is nothing God purposes for His children which is not good. God gives to His children only that which is good. And He withholds nothing good from us. God is good, and He is at work in our lives for good. Nothing which God creates; nothing which God accomplishes is not good, God is love and that’s why the greatest power that man can possess is love –real love as described by Apostle Paul –
“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (in I Tim. 1:5).