Because God is Good...

Thanks for joining us for our 3rd week in our Shelter in Peace Series ! Today we are going to be looking at the Goodness of God.

If you have Bibles I would encourage you to open them to Psalm 107 as we check out the first 3 verses.

1) God’s Goodness Should Fuel Our Thankfulness (v. 1)

Psalm 107:1

Psalm 107:1 CSB

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.

So this point, taken at face-value is obvious. The Psalmist clearly says we should give thanks because God is good.

I want us to understand however, that “for He is good” part.....that is saying that:

God is and all He does is good

God is the measure of what is good

These are things that we would agree with depending on the season and what is happening around us.

Because when our life is going well then we would all agree - God is good.

But when things go “wrong” (that is according to our standards), or when trials and challenges come....then apparently this point is up for debate.

Last week we looked at the wisdom of God. And one of the points I made was that when things happen that we didn’t plan or things don’t go the way we expected, part of our argument is leveraged against the wisdom of God.

Well…the other part of the argument is leveraged against the goodness of God.

Because we are saying either God doesn’t know what He is doing OR He thinks He knows what He is doing but He doesn’t actually know what good is....or He knows what He is doing....He Himself just isn’t good.

But just like with our last episode on Wisdom, we make this argument not based on what Scripture tells us but based on our circumstances and our feelings in those circumstances.

This is not to say that the challenges we go through are insignificant. Some of us have been through and experienced some horrible things.

It is in seasons such as this that these verses are important…because notice that the first verse is a command.

It is not a command issued because everything is going great in the Psalmist’s life....look at the verses below it!

The Psalmist speaks of things like wandering in desolate wilderness (v. 4), hunger and thirst (v. 5), distress and trouble (v. 6), darkness, gloom and prisoners in cruel chains (v.10), Rebellion (v.11), broken spirits (12), and on and on

We have to understand much like the Psalmist does, is that the Goodness of God is unaffected by these things..and because of that it should lead us to give thanks and praise Him!

2) God’s Goodness Is Seen In Our Redemption (v. 2)

Psalm 107:2

Psalm 107:2 CSB

Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe

This here is the primary place we see the Goodness of God.

Yes God gives good things and blessings that we enjoy on this earth but if that is all God did we would be in deep trouble.

The primary blessing we need, the ultimate good gift we could receive is redemption.

Redemption from our foe, from our sins that have left us eternally separated from this good God.

Those of us, who follow Christ, those of us who, as the Psalmist puts it, are redeemed, we should be the best at praising God in hard times because no matter how hard the season we are in, we have already been given the ultimate goodness....redemption.

For Paul writes in Romans 8:32

Romans 8:32 CSB

He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?

The word ‘Redeemed’ used there is a beautiful word that, in this context, is meaning “to be brought to safety.”

How beautiful of a truth to communicate, especially in this series. That our Shelter is in the LORD. And it is He who ‘redeemed’ us and brought us to safety in Himself.

3) God’s Goodness In Redemption Is For A Purpose (v.3)

Psalm 107:3

Psalm 107:3 CSB

and has gathered them from the lands— from the east and the west, from the north and the south.

Much like we spoke last episode about how the moments in our lives are for the purpose of the glory of God....we can see here that God’s Goodness in Redeeming a people is for a purpose

That purpose is the gathering of that people from all over the world, from every people, nation, and language (Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 7:9-10), lifting up in one voice praise for the Goodness of God who saves! Who’s faithful love endures forever.

Hear me out...

The Goodness of God is not seen because of a lack of trouble in our lives. ....just read the rest of this Psalm.

The Goodness of God is seen because God is. Period.

God’s Goodness is not based on changing circumstances, it’s based on His unchanging nature. (James 1:17)

God is in control, He knows what He is doing, and He is good in what He does.

That is why our Theme statement today is:

Because God is Good, I Can Trust Him.