It is amazing to me that this is still a hard concept for people to believe. We have been given such a bad image of God that for many it’s difficult for us to see God as good. I’m surprised at how many people, even professing Christians that still believe God to be cruel, One who sends natural disasters to ‘punish the wicked’ or places sickness on people to teach them how to ‘be humble’. If this is your outlook of God you really need to get a new true biblical picture of who God really is.
Over the past fifteen years that I have been ministering I have given a challenge to people to show me how it is that God puts sicknesses on people to make them more humble. Since Jesus came to ‘show us the Father’s will’ we see that He came to heal the sick. So please show me a verse where Jesus says to the sick person, “no I won’t heal you, in fact you need to be humble so I’m going to put a terrible disease on you as well”.
Of course, no one has ever come to show me where this is because it doesn’t exist. Jesus didn’t put sicknesses on people so why should we think that God would? Jesus demonstrated God’s will and so His will is to heal and to do what is right. (Acts 10:38)
There are so many Scriptures that show God is good. From the Old Testament and throughout the New, that is the central theme. God is good and He has great plans for His people. Since the moment evil entered the world, God had a plan to eradicate it through Jesus.
1. DOING GOOD IS GOD’S NATURE
“You are good, and do good” Psalm 119:68
This is such a great truth that David points out so clearly. It just simply states that God is good. Let that sink in for just a minute. The very nature of God is good. There is no evil in Him. If you see God has the white bearded man always angry and with a big stick in His hand to punish you, you have a wrong picture of who God truly is.
Not only is God good, but that’s what He does. Isn’t that awesome! Anything good that has happened in your life is because God brought it there. If there is something terrible in your life, God didn’t bring it there. That is the work of the enemy. God can turn it around for good but it wasn’t Him who brought it upon you.
Many people seem to have a ‘schizophrenic’ God. One day He is doing good to people and other days He is red-faced and angry with everyone who is around Him. It seems that we need to watch and figure out what kind of a mood God is in before we approach Him. Thankfully though this is just a bad image that we need to change.
Know that God’s nature is to be and do good. Thank Him for all the good that is happening in your life right now. That is what He does. You need to know and believe that God wants to do good to you and He’s not out to punish you. I know for some this seems so basic, yet many still seem to miss this very important point.
2. EXPERIENCE HOW GOOD GOD IS
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him.” Psalm 34:8
Now David is saying that you can experience God’s goodness. This is not just for a select few. This is an invitation for all to ‘taste and see’. I believe we taste by experiencing. Have you ever felt God’s Presence? Have you been in a meeting where God is pouring out His Spirit upon you? If you have you are tasting that God is good. It is a taste of Heaven here on earth. It’s a glimpse of what we can handle of God’s Presence here on earth. It will be so much more powerful in Heaven.
When David says, ‘see that the Lord is good.’ Have you ever been healed or have you seen someone get healed?” Have you or someone you know ever been pointed out in a service and the preacher says exactly what you are going through? It’s at these moments that you are seeing how good God really is.
Like David, I invite you today to ‘taste and see’. You can experience God for yourself. He wants to reveal Himself to you and He wants you to know that He is good.
3. GOD ALWAYS DOES GOOD
This may be hard to believe but it’s true. God always does good to you. In fact, He’s happy to do you good. If you think that I’m making this up, let’s go to the Scriptures again.
“And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.” Jeremiah 32:40, 41
I don’t know about you but I am already rejoicing. Just think, you make God happy when you allow Him to do good to you. He says, “He will rejoice over you to do you good.” Instead of beating yourself up wondering what you can do to please God, allow Him to do you good! That’s it! It’s just that simple.
God is wanting to do you good. Believe it and you will see that He will do good to you. He only has good things for you. Allow your life to be transformed by God’s goodness and you will see things in a different light.
Also read about how God wants to be close to you in my blog.