Knowing God: God is Good

When I first received the topic of God’s goodness, I expected to write a simple, uplifting blog post. After all, the Psalms overflow with praises that celebrate His goodness and mercy, drawing our hearts to kneel in worship. In our church, we often echo the familiar call-and-response: “God is good all the time... all the time, God is good.” Immersing ourselves in Scripture leaves little doubt about His goodness. Yet as I lingered over the topic, I found myself wrestling with the reality that, despite Scripture’s clarity, our hearts are not always quick to trust that God is truly good. When we can’t rest in God’s goodness, we have a hard time trusting His heart, and when we can’t trust God, we find it hard to have faith. Truly knowing that He is good is critical to our faith. For many in the world, doubting God’s goodness is central to their unbelief or loss of faith.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He formed all that fills the earth and skies, and He declared it “very good” (Gen. 1). Everything He made carried purpose, intention, and goodness. All creation came into being through Christ, is sustained by Christ, and ultimately exists for Christ (Col. 1:15–17). From the very beginning, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were actively at work in every facet of life.

Yet the first temptation set before humanity was the lie that God was withholding goodness from them. In Genesis 3, the serpent casts doubt on God’s character, implying to Eve that His command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was meant to deny her something desirable. From the day she was created, she had walked with God in the garden. She had heard His voice and had surely learned His character through His words and actions. But in that moment, she chose to disbelieve what she knew of God in favor of what she now saw in the tree.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Gen 3:6.

In a sense, the serpent had given Eve a new pair of glasses through which to see the world—glasses tinted by his own envy and bitterness toward God. Looking through them, Eve could no longer see clearly. God’s command had been given to preserve Adam and Eve’s innocence, not to hold back good things from them.

To this day, humanity continues to see the world through the serpent’s glasses. In 1981, Rabbi Harold Kushner published *When Bad Things Happen to Good People* after losing his son to a devastating disease. In it, he argues: “If God is all-powerful, He could prevent evil. If God is all-good, He would prevent evil. Evil exists. Therefore, either God is not all-powerful or He is not all-good.”

Satan and his minions work tirelessly to perpetuate the lie that God’s goodness is reliant on man’s perceptions of His actions.

When our life is easy, our loved ones are healthy, and our bank account is plump, we easily assent to the idea that God is good. However, when life becomes hard and we see evil everywhere, even as a believer, we can sometimes struggle to hold on to the knowledge that God is good in all things and at all times. Yet Scripture consistently confirms that goodness isn’t simply a character trait that God possesses; it is His very essence. He doesn’t just do good things; He is goodness.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 CSB

Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is [essentially] good [by nature] except God alone.” Mark 10:18 AMP

So this is the part where we have to dig in a bit deeper. If everything good is from God and there is no one that is good but God, how do we understand the presence of evil and the hard things in life? How do we process good and evil existing at the same time? Sounds a lot like the fruition of eating the forbidden fruit.

Humanity no longer remains innocent and naive as Adam and Eve were when they were created. However, although our eyes are fully open to see evil as well as good, how we interpret them is based on the lenses we are using.

In many areas of life, we see that pain and adversity are necessary to yield beauty and strength. Think of the beautiful pearl that is created as a byproduct of the oyster’s defense mechanism to rid itself of an irritant or a parasite. Or a diamond that is only formed through intense heat and pressure upon the carbon atom. Anyone who has ever participated in a sport can attest to the necessity of hours of rigorous practicing and training in order to endure and excel in the game. Weightlifters know that in order to build muscle, they must first break down muscle fibers through intense workouts that result in soreness. Doctors attest to broken bones becoming stronger once they mend. Many parents are able to subject their children to painful vaccinations because they believe it will strengthen their their child’s immune system against disease.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul explains that he was given “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan.” He asked God three times to take the thorn away, but God refused.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9a

If we use the thinking of Rabbi Kushner, we could easily draw the conclusion that God isn’t acting like a good and loving Father by allowing Paul to suffer. But Paul had a different perspective. Paul was able to see past the moment of pain caused by the thorn. Because of all the time he spent abiding in God’s Word and serving God, he was able to see the eternal perspective for his suffering. He had laid aside the serpent’s spectacles, and so he could clearly see how the thorn was being used by God for his good.

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:9b-10)

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

God’s goodness is central to all He is and is borne out in all He does. Our belief or acceptance of His goodness doesn’t alter its reality; it only alters our perspective. Once we saturate our minds with the knowledge of God’s goodness, we have a foundation on which to build our faith. Like Paul and so many of those before us, we can endure through life’s hard times and not be blinded by the falseness of Satan’s lies.

As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, take some time to examine your heart. Do your emotions and feelings line up with the knowledge that God is good, or do you struggle to believe that truth? If you are having trouble reconciling the evil of the world with the God of the Bible, then tell God your heart. Bring it to Him and ask Him to show you the truth of His character. God is more than capable of handling all our doubts, and His desire is to give us any wisdom needed to endure and grow (James 1:4-5).

Dig into Scripture so that you can bathe your mind with the truth of His goodness. Here are some great verses to memorize and ponder upon.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him (Ps 34:8)!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good (Ps 100:4-5).

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!...For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things (Ps 107:1, 9).

The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made....You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. (Ps 145:9, 16)