The Lord Is Good

If we believe that the Bible is true in every regard, we must acknowledge goodness as one of God's most notable attributes. These verses below are a mere glimpse into the vast collection of Scripture which speaks of God’s goodness. He is good when He pours out abundant blessing. He is good when He comforts in the midst of suffering. He is good when He answers prayer. He is good when He provides strength in weakness.

• I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good besides You.” Psalm 16:2
• Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. Psalm 25:8
• I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13
• O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! Psalm 34:8
• Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart! Psalm 73:1
• But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works. Psalm 73:28
• Indeed, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its produce. Psalm 85:12
• For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:5
• Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Psalm 106:1
• But You, O God, the Lord, deal kindly with me for Your name's sake; Because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me; Psalm 109:21
• The LORD is good to all and His mercies are over all His works. Psalm 145:9

Let us first see that God is always good to us. In Psalm 109 we see that His love for us is good. In Psalm 100 we read that His love is everlasting. Therefore we may conclude that His goodness towards us is indeed everlasting. There is never a moment when the Lord is not good. Regardless of circumstances, know that God is good to His people. When you are dry spiritually, God is good to you. Meditate on this thought. In Psalm 73 we see that the nearness of God is to be our good. Even when you don’t feel Him, and when you don’t hear Him, He is good to you and He is near to you.

Then, see that God Himself is good. “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” In pouring out goodness to us, He is offering us the very essence of Himself. To be anything but good to us would be to go against His very nature, and we know that “He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). All that He does is good. All that He is, is good. “For the Lord is good.”

And only He is good. Psalm 16:2 says, “I have no good besides You.” We certainly are not good. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Though God made us good in His image, we have all rejected Him and turned our own way. But in His goodness, we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

Look now to the fact that we can hope in His goodness. “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Because His goodness is everlasting, let us ever look to that goodness as the source of our hope. Believe that even if you do not see it now, in the midst of trials and pain, in the midst of spiritual dryness, you will see the goodness of the Lord! He will deliver you into the land of the living where you will experience His goodness poured out in its fullness.

Know, also, that the “Lord is good to all.” There is not one who is exempt from the goodness of God! “Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.” All of us are sinners, and in His goodness, He guides us in truth. He leads us on the path of righteousness so that we might be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). In His goodness, so that we might spend eternity with Him, He even “gave His one and only Son” (John 3:16) so that by believing in Him we might gain eternal life! Is there any greater proof of His goodness toward us, than “that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)?

How then shall we respond? “Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!” Respond with praise and thanksgiving. Respond with a life that reflects eternal gratefulness and worship toward a good God. Respond by giving Him your all, and “finding out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10). The Lord is good!