Christianity 101: God is good – Thursday, 1 March
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“…the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”
Daniel 11:32b (NKJV) True strength and confidence come from knowing who God really is. As we said yesterday: when you know that God is not the author of tragedies, suffering and pain, it will enable you to trust Him. Knowing that God is not the author or origin of our troubles will deepen our relationship with Him. We can trust Him because He is good. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” Psalm 34:8 NKJV God doesn’t just do good – He is good. You cannot take good out of God and be left with God. “Good” is the essence of who God is. In other words, whatever God does is only ever good. Knowing this brings us a confidence and makes us strong! Tasting and seeing are both tangible experiences. It’s not enough to know about a great buffet restaurant: I want to know it for myself, and that means seeing it and tasting the food for myself! God’s goodness isn’t some mystical concept that we can only know intellectually, it is a tangible reality that we can experience. The Lord is good means that the Lord is equal to good – when you experience God, you will experience good. Every time you encounter God or engage with Him, you will experience good. You can never encounter God and not encounter good. But sadly, because many people see God has harsh, judgmental and angry, they do not have a healthy relationship with him. Their wrong view of God prevents them from experiencing who He really is: good!Moses asked God if he could see His glory (Exodus 33:18). God responded by saying that He would make all of His goodness pass before Moses and He would proclaim His Name (who He is).“And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” Exodus 33:19 ESV Moses asked God if he could see His glory and God responded by saying that He would show him His goodness – part of God’s glory is His goodness. God proclaimed that when you see or experience Him, you see and experience good. Then God proclaimed who He is: gracious and merciful. If we know God’s true nature, that He is good and only good, then it will give us a deep sense of security because we know what to expect: good. This makes us strong and will enable us to be confident in our relationship with Him and cause us to both expect good things from Him and do great things with Him. When you have the root of knowing and being confident in His goodness, you will have the fruit of strength, great expectations (faith) and doing great things with Him.
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