The starting point...

The text came at the end of a harried day. 'Hey, can you talk?' I happened to see her message right when it came across my phone.

Listen to this podcast here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/ccbb2be7/the-starting-p...

'What's up?' I asked when I heard her voice.

'It just seems like every day is a roller coaster of stress right now; I get good news and I feel okay, but then when bad news comes, my anxiety ramps up again! You said something to me the other day about trusting God and then resting in him. How in the world do I get there?'

'Ah--well, you get there by growing your trust in God, and I believe you can do that if you truly believe that God is good...'

Today I set before you a fundamental truth:  

God is good.  

Three simple words, but what do they really mean, practically speaking?

God is good because his heart is good.

                          His character is pure.

                          Because of that, his ways are right and

                          he delights in us.

King David, an imperfect man like us, wrote poetry to God, often setting his work to music. In the book of Psalms, David expressed every human emotion we will ever have, but also praised God and thanked him for who he is.  Look!

“For the Lord is good.  His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.” Psalm 100.5¹

Now add that to our description:

God is good because 

             His love for us is constant and nothing can interfere with it

             His faithfulness to us even extends to our children

Jesus described God’s goodness this way:  For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3.16²

            God is good because he gave us Jesus, so that we can be with him forever.

Paul said it this way, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”³

   **now this is quite critical to understand – we are not cleaning ourselves up so that we can come to God--how many times I have had people say to me 'Oh I need to straighten up a little before I go to church!' No, no.

God love(s) us first, and comes looking for us.  Look how Jesus illustrated this while teaching: What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.4 What did Paul say? “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He comes after us . . . he pursues us because he loves us.

God is good because He is gracious and merciful⁵ to us.

God is good because he reveals himself to us—he shows us who He is!  How?

   --through everything he has created⁶ Why, even the skies proclaim his majesty and glory!⁷ Several days ago, I took in the canopy of brilliant skies against mountain tops in Utah; and daily, here in North Carolina, I am amazed by the artistry of the variable skies and changing cloud formations... God reveals himself through all he has created.

--God also reveals himself through our consciences⁸ [Yes, a sense of justice and rightness is hardwired into our God-created DNA.

  --through Jesus Christ who said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…”⁹

  --through the written Word of God which He inspired through holy men¹⁰ to teach us about creation, the Fall, redemption and relationship through Jesus, to show us the right way to live and follow God.

Oh, it is true--daily I know God is good because of what I glean from the Bible!  God has given us such great descriptions and vivid word pictures, like Jesus' ascension into Heaven: “…he [Jesus] was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him.”¹¹   “While they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,  and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”12 Again, God’s goodness is on display as he promises Jesus will return and gather his children.  **Jesus is coming again, Friends.  This life is not all there is.

The Goodness of God ought be the guiding principle of your life, my believing friend, and right at the forefront of your thinking.

The Goodness of God, the song and our response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sE5kEnitqE

Praying you will be convinced of his goodness toward you,

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1 - Psalm 100.5

2 - John 3.16

3 – Romans 5.8

4 – Matthew 18.12-14

5 – Psalm 145.8-9

6 – Romans 1.19-20

7 – Psalm 19.1-4

8 – Romans 2.14-15

9 - John 14.9

10-2 Peter 1.20-21

11-Acts 1.9

12-Acts 1.10-11