Bible Verse: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” Psalm 34:8
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 6:1-5; Psalm 106:1-48; Psalm 107:1-43
What is the most nervous you have ever been when you met someone for the first time? For some men, it was the first time they were interviewed for a job or that girl you always wanted to ask out. But I promise you this – you have never been in the same room as someone quite like God.
He is holy, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. When the prophet Isaiah (a pretty influential and spiritual man in his own right) came into the presence of God, his automatic response was to cry out, “Woe is me!” (Isaiah 6:5). His encounter with the holiness of God leads to an overwhelming sense of despair and hopelessness.
This would be a normal response for any human who sees God without knowing the whole story of who He is. One character trait of God changes our experience of Him from horror to awe. God is good!
He is not good in the sense of the feeling you get when you complete a project or have the best steak you have ever tasted. Everything God does is good. He is the standard of goodness. Goodness is not something God simply does – it is who He is. Psalm 119:68 says, “You are good and do good…”
I love the definition of God’s goodness from Kevin DeYoung: “Divine goodness is the overflowing bounty of God by which He who receives nothing and lacks nothing communicates blessing to His creation and to His creatures.”
God without goodness is terrifying and a tyrant. God with goodness is awe-inspiring, trustworthy, and a place of rest.
Humans have always undervalued the goodness of God. In Genesis, we are told that everything God created was “very good.” Yet the serpent’s temptation of Eve in Genesis 3:1-7 was that God was withholding something better from her. Believing that one lie resulted in so much shame and pain for Adam and Eve, and this lie is still doing the same thing to people today.
Stop settling for second best and stop believing that there is something that will give you better gifts than the One who created you. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Prayer: Father, help me experience and see Your goodness in my life and today’s world.
Reflection: Every good and perfect gift comes from God (James 1:17). Take 5 minutes and write down as many good gifts that you have that you can think of.
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