The Goodness of God

God has always been after personal relationship with man—that’s why we were created. When God began dealing with man, it wasn’t enough for Him to just become “Abraham’s God.” God desired that each generation would know Him for themselves. He had to become “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” And how did He do that? By making Himself available for each man to experience—by showing each generation His goodness. 

It’s not enough for us to know Him in a detached way either. We can’t just know about God—we need to experience Him for ourselves. He must become our God.

Stuff Happens…but Jesus is Enough People ask me all the time, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” And my response is always, “Stuff just happens—to good people and to bad people.” Now I could go into all the spiritual reasons why stuff happens, but there isn’t room in this post to do that. And honestly, it’s not that important.

What is important, is for you to understand what the Bible says about the “stuff happening.” The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 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 1:16-17 God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5b 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.

God has always been after personal relationship with man—that’s why we were created. When God began dealing with man, it wasn’t enough for Him to just become “Abraham’s God.” God desired that each generation would know Him for themselves. He had to become “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” And how did He do that? By making Himself available for each man to experience—by showing each generation His goodness. It’s not enough for us to know Him in a detached way either. We can’t just know about God—we need to experience Him for ourselves. He must become our God.

The Bible tells us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). Taste is an experience born of expectation. When you sit down to a meal, you develop an expectation of what the food will taste like—before you ever eat it. You smell its aroma, it looks appealing decorating your plate, you even remember its taste from the last time you ate that meal, and your mouth begins to water in expectation. The problem is, someone else may have cooked that meal you’re salivating over, and your expectation may be wrong! Experiencing God’s goodness is much the same.

The “expectation” you create of what God will do in your life is often based on what others have told you about Him or how others have treated you in His name. But that expectation may be wrong! 1 Peter says, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). It is our experience of God that becomes the catalyst for our spiritual growth. Without experiencing His goodness, we can’t make Him our personal God. And with a wrong expectation, we won’t want to experience Him. Are your unconscious expectations of God hindering you from experiencing His goodness?