Seeds of Hope: God is Good. May 27, 2010

If I had to pick one song that was my father’s favorite, I can still hear him standing in front of the church singing the little chorus: “God is so good.”  Sometimes he even dragged out his ukulele.  Simple, but profound. 

What comes out of a person is their character…. I love the little illustration from C.S. Lewis, who talks about the tennis player who really is not all that good of a player, but once in a while he has a really good game, so the tennis player thinks of himself in terms of the once in a while really good game, when in reality he is rather mediocre.  Some of us tend to think way too much of ourselves.  It’s when we begin to see our true selves as sinners that God can begin to transform us.  

God’s character is also profoundly demonstrated by his actions.  God is good.  James 1:17:  Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above…”  God cannot be improved upon.  His character is good. 

You have to take a look at what the Bible says about creation… Genesis one… the rhythm/days of creation. Then the climax Gen. 1:31.  and it was very good.”  That’s God’s character coming.  Anything God is good.    My mother is a good person….  How much more God….The goodness of God.  

So what makes good food?  A chocolate bar on the one hand and squash on the other… 

What makes a good friend.  Hanging out with people a lot is not the definition of goodness.  Doing stuff together..

What does it mean to say God is good?  

It means life is simplified… He is the definition of good. Get that straight in your mind and it helps put order in the world.  Settle the goodness of God issue and never again will you have to wonder about certain issues….

It means we are to have a lot of fun.  We are neutral observers of this world, we are active participants that get excited about what God is doing, because what God is doing is good.   This year when my daughter went to prom, she invited like 6-8 other couples to our house for dinner.  I heard from several parents how much more fun it was than more formal dates…. 

It means we are to be gracious people…  God may not need to hear us say it, but we need to hear ourselves…that is what deep relationships are about.  1 Tim. 4:4: “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it received with thanksgiving…” 

            What’s the opposite of gratitude:  taking others/God for granted…

God’s goodness transcends the negative…I am certainly not discouting the negative, we may not always understand in the present, but to know that God knows the bigger picture:  Rom. 8:28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God… “  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ.  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persectution, or famine, or nakedness…”  8:35-37.  God is good, which means what he is working towards is goodness, wholeness, purposefulness…God’s goodness is an amazing truth.  You never have to wonder, even when we don’t understand.  The ugly side of life is put into perspective, and to know that God is good allows us to more easily overcome the negative.  Even when the world starts falling apart, the story is not over, because God is greater, he is in all…sometimes we have to leave the circumstances of this world in God’s hands, knowing he is good.  The problem is that we don’t always recognize what is good.  Children will eat ice cream all day because it tastes good, but a good parent has them turn off the tv and do homework.  We don’t always understand, but we have to trust in the goodness of God…that’s his character.  

           I heard a story from a century ago about a very generous couple, but one little area they seemed so stingy.  They raised chickens as a hobby and refused to give away a single chicken egg.  After they had died, it was revealed that they used the money to support a widow down the street.  That was in their character. We don’t always understand, it does not always seem good, but to know God is to have confidence that he is good and goodness will win, because goodness is his character.  

 

One more consequence: worship.  To know God is good is a reason to celebrate.  Psalm 107, the people are commanded to gather together to celebrate God’s goodness.  Psalm 34:8 is profound in its simplicity:  “O Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  I’d like to end with the words of an old hymn:

 

Count your blessings,

Name them one by one,

Count your blessings,

See what God hath done,

Count your blessings,

Name them one by one,

Count your many blessings

See what God has done.