Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Psalm 34:8
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Father, You are good! My mind never doubts this sustaining TRUTH. You are simply and yet profoundly good. My heart rejoices in Your goodness to sustain, to love and teach, and to build up those who now belong to You. In Your goodness You brought us in and have transformed us from strangers and from enemies to members of Your family, not simply or haphazardly brought in but carefully joined together in Christ.
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2: 19-22
In your goodness You protect and strengthen, You comfort and encourage, and You fill us and guard us with a peace that passes all understanding. Surely, as the Psalmist wrote, You guide us on paths of righteousness for Your namesake. However, I have learned that even when we walk through the valleys that seem dark and lonely and covered with the daunting shadows of sorrow, discouragement, and fear – in Your goodness You are also there. I find You quietly dispelling the shadows with the gentle reminder from your Spirit that we have no cause for fear or discouragement, for in Your goodness You will strengthen us and You will help us. You will hold us up with Your victorious right hand.
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
My mind is riddled with a series of questions that beg to be asked. Why do You love us who were Your enemies? Why have you made us part of Your family and continue to build us up into Your Holy Temple? Why do You lead us and show us the right way to go or dispel the shadows in the valleys? The only answer that comes is this: You are simply and profoundly good! Even if I had not tasted and seen Your goodness for myself – You, proclaimed Yourself to Moses as – “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth”, Exodus 34:6.
Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Psalm 34:5-7 NKJV
One final question lingers – what is my response? To which I gladly and humbly answer – relying once again on Your goodness … Answer graciously this prayer my God – that I might convey the truth , reality, and depth of Your goodness in my thoughts, both written and spoken, and in my life lived out, so that others might truly know and forever share in Your goodness through Christ Jesus my Lord – Your good and perfect gift of salvation to all who believe.
“For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
How great is the goodness
Psalm 31:19 NLT
you have stored up for those who fear you.
You lavish it on those who come to you for protection,
blessing them before the watching world.
Want to know more about the goodness of God, salvation through Christ, eternal life, or how to get through the valleys? Reply below or message me at mryelnb@aol.com –