Summary
The Goodness of God: "He Is Good"
"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever." This refrain from 1 Chronicles 16:34 sits at the heart of Israel's worship and at the heart of Christian thanksgiving. The familiar children's table grace—"God is great, and God is good, let us thank Him for our food"—may sound simple, but it confesses one of the most powerful truths in all of Scripture: the God who rules the heavens and the earth is good toward what He has made.
The goodness of God is multifaceted. First, it means there is no fault in Him. He is perfect in what He says, what He does, and what He thinks. As Jesus himself declared in Matthew 19:17, "There is only one who is good." Second, His goodness expresses itself in kindness toward creation: "The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made" Psalm 145:9. Third, it shows itself in mercy, grace, patience, and long-suffering, the very attributes God proclaims of Himself in Exodus 34:6. Peter applies this same patience to the delay of Christ's return: the Lord is "not slow to fulfill his promise … but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" 2 Peter 3:9.
Fourth, and at the center, God's goodness is love. The reason given for thanksgiving in 1 Chronicles 16 is precisely this: "for his steadfast love endures forever." "God is love" 1 John 4:8, and He declares through Jeremiah, "I have loved you with an everlasting love" Jeremiah 31:3. His goodness draws Him into relationship with His creatures.
Crucially, God's love does not nullify His holiness. A good God cannot simply wink at sin; if He did, He would cease to be just, and therefore cease to be good. Jesus warns us to "fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" Matthew 10:28. One day every person will stand before the Judge with a capital J. Because we are all sinners, the question of God's goodness becomes an urgent one: how can a holy God be good to us?
The answer is the gospel itself. "When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us" Titus 3:4-5. The supreme display of God's goodness is the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. In the waters of Baptism, God has already rendered the verdict in miniature: "You are mine. You are forgiven. I will not let you go." This is why the second great table prayer—"Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed"—is more than a mealtime formula. It echoes the very last prayer in Scripture, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" Revelation 22:20, spoken in confidence because the Judge is also our Savior.
Finally, God's goodness is meant to be reflected in His people. He calls us to be merciful as our Father is merciful Luke 6:36, teaches us to love one another 1 Thessalonians 4:9, and through Christ bears with us so that we may bear with one another Colossians 3:13. Thanksgiving, then, is not merely something we say; it is something God works in us as His goodness flows outward through our lives. To learn more, see Goodness of God: "He is Good" 11-3-24.
Video citations
- Goodness of God: "He is Good" 11-3-24 — Would you open your Bibles please with me to first Chronicles the 16th chapter. First Chronicles is in the Old Testament. If you're using a few edition of Holy Scripture you're going to find that on…