We know God is love, but I want you to see that God is also good—really good! His very personality is goodness and everything He does and everything He creates is good because He puts Himself into it. After bringing forth life and vegetation on the earth, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).^[i] But the only reason creation was good is because God infused His Spirit into it—that is what made it good. Yeshua (Jesus) told the rich young ruler, “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19). Additionally, there is nothing good in creation except what is filled with the presence of God our Father.

“For everything created by God is good” (1 Timothy 4:4).

We know that God cannot lie. That is true and there is no way for Him to violate that. But you also have to come to grips with the fact that God is good. That is different than saying God loves you. Because people can love you and hurt you, even unintentionally. But to say that God is good and that what He is doing in you and for you is only good is very different. God can only do what is good for you because He Himself is good. You could say He is goodness. Whatever He is doing for you or surrounding you or in your life is always for your good.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

In His great love for His sons, the Father disciplines and corrects us that He might show us His mercy and His goodness. The psalmist recognized the goodness of God when he sang:

Before I was afflicted I went astray,

But now I keep Your word.

You are good and You do good;

Teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 119:67-68

If we accept that God is good, then we must recognize that the opposite is also correct. God cannot do bad. There is no such thing as God doing anything bad: “Your eyes are too pure to look at evil, and You cannot look at harm favorably” (Habakkuk 1:13). If you are facing a day of trouble, ask your Father to conceal you in His tabernacle and hide you in the secret place of His tent. For it is there that David declared, “I certainly believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13).

In His goodness, the Father will gather all the families of Israel “from the remote parts of the earth” and bring them into all that He has promised (Jeremiah 31:8). For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and they will shout for joy in Zion. As Christians, we will also participate in God’s covenant promises through Abraham and see the fullness of God’s goodness in our lives as well.

And they will be radiant over the goodness of the LORD—

Over the grain, the new wine, the oil,

And over the young of the flock and the herd.

And their life will be like a watered garden,

And they will never languish again …

“And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:12, 14

The Father “loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD” (Psalm 33:5). You have to believe that God is good and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Trust that He loves you and that He is good—very good!

[i] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).