God is good.

A couple of weeks ago I asked us to ponder God's goodness. What is it?

I realized after writing that short post that this is no small subject.

Sometimes the word 'good' is used as a comparison word; as in a list: e.g., poor, satisfactory, good, great. 'Great' is better than 'good' in such a list. But God but cannot be confined to the petty spheres of such lists, and calling him great (as in, 'that meal was great!') is just too small for him. The other use of 'great'--as in 'remarkable in magnitude' (another dictionary definition)--fits him much better. But again, 'great' as in "better than good", should be avoided - if only because saying "God isn't just good; he's great" sounds more like the slogan for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes than a description of the Creator.

No, 'good' in the sense that "God is good" is much, much deeper than that.

God is good in a deep, standalone kind of way. He is pure. He is real. He is true.

And while a whole book could be written on God's goodness--and I'm sure many have been--here is a taste of what God's goodness means from my vantage point:

God is faithful. God loved you before you were conceived. He loved you through childhood, your teen years, and now. He will love you for the rest of your life. He will love you when things slow down and you finish your years on this earth. He will love you as you fade away - from the minds and memories and hearts and genealogical lists of those who remain. And he will love you into Heaven--if you accepted his love while you were here (John 3:16)--and beyond - as much as he loved you at conception. To me, this is a deeply satisfying thought. It is true of no one else.

God is the answer. He is the truth (John 14:6). He is real. He is the same right through. He doesn't make mistakes and have to say sorry. He doesn't misjudge. He doesn't mislead. He never needs to back-peddle. He knows. He knows you. And he knows that you need him.

God is far beyond you. God is not a slice of your pie. He is not a get-out-jail-free card. He is not your plaything. He is not your magical cure. No, God is far beyond that. He is the center. He is the source. He invites you to receive Him, to receive his salvation, to enter his story, to build his Kingdom, to worship him, to find your satisfaction--the only satisfaction that lasts--in him. And his sovereignty and Kingship and majesty--so far beyond you and I--is also the solution you and I need.

He is far beyond and far greater than you and I, and yet he is a God who can be and wants to be near (Deuteronomy 31:8; Psalm 23).

Amen:

God is good.