Our verse of the month is an example of a situation that was seemingly bad, yet in which God showed both His goodness and faithfulness to His people. They were captives in a foreign land, yet God blessed them, took care of them, and His people prospered. Many Jews would soon become prominent people in society and important contributors to its development and well-being. Whenever we face difficulties we need, as His people, to trust God that He will work out His good plans for us.
The Goodness of God
What Scripture teaches without a shadow of doubt is that God is good. He is inherently good; it is His very nature. He does not choose to be good, He simply is good. Let's look at three points to illustrate this fact.
(1) God's Goodness in Creation (Genesis 1:1-31; Romans 1:20)
God created good things - H whenever He saw what He had made, His 'comment' - or evaluation - was, 'it is good.' In fact, at the very end when He look at all that He had made, he said, 'it is very good'! God created good things because He is good; what He does flows from Who He is - good. God delighted in His Creation and was ever so pleased to entrust it to human beings. It's a bit like Christmas: good parents like to not only give good gifts to their kids, but they also delight in doing so and want their children to enjoy them.
What is also important to note in the biblical Creation account is that God created with design and purpose - and He did that because He is good. Of course, there are many in our 'modern world' who want to deny Creation (by God or by Intelligent Design), yet where has this led us? We became monkeys and the world meaningless. Personally, I cannot believe that this wonderful nature and all life originated from nothing, a bang, without a first cause, and that life is simply materialistic. I cannot believe that all of this has come to past by coincidence. What I can, however, easily believe is that there is an ultimate Being who is able to created, One who is 'the first mover,' One who is beyond this world and human ability, and hence able to do what the Bible ascribes to God - that's easy to believe if one has understood the God of the Bible (we'll talk more about Creation next month, especially since it's Darwin's 200th Birthday..)
What the Bible makes clear is that Creation reflects God, that He created beautifully because it is His beautiful nature to do so. In doing so, the Apostle Paul tells us that Creation reveals God's invisible attribute, His eternal power, and His divine nature (Romans 1:20). What is reflects the One who made it. Let me illustrate: few if any of us have ever seen the founder and producers of Vauxhall or VW, yet we know they exist from the product the make - cars... there is a Creator and He is good, as reflected in nature.
(2) God's Goodness in Israel's History (Genesis 12:1-3; Deuteronomy 1:25; 6:24; 26:11; Psalm 73:1; 84:11)
Throughout the history of God's people, He shown Himself to be good. In fact, the very calling of Israel through Abram is based on the fact that God has good plans for His people - that is, He blesses them and wants them to be a blessing. Goodness is something to be shared - just like good food tastes better with good friends, so does divine blessing.
We further read that God gave Israel a 'good land.' He gave them good commandments because observing them is good and will cause blessing to His people. It is good to live by God's commandments, for they are holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12, 14). God's goodness to His people was so overwhelming that the Psalmist proclaimed, 'Surely God is good to Israel!' (Psalm 73:1). Further, it is evident - and exciting! - that God will not withhold any good thing from those whose hearts are pure, that is, those who are upright and honest (Psalm 84:11). God wants to bless, God wants to shows His endless goodness, yet who will accept and receive? It is up to you, as God will never force things up you - it is your choice to receive!
(3) God's Goodness in Jesus Christ (Luke 4:16-21; Romans 8:32; 2 Corinthians 9:8)
Finally, God shows His endless love in giving His Son, Jesus. He died a criminal's death eventhough He was innocent. He did this in order to redeem humanity - in down-to-earth English: get us back to God and sort out our lives. The Apostle Paul put it this way:
He [God] who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)This is a remarkable exclamation! Through Jesus God has given us all things - all things, hence, He does not withhold goodness from humanity once they turn to God by putting their faith and trust in Jesus. Elsewhere Paul wrote that '...God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abudance for every good deed' (2 Corinthians 9:8). God is a rich Provider, so that (1) we will have enough and can enjoy life and (2) that we will be able to give to others and be an instrument of God's blessing to those in need. God wants His goodness to shine through His people - so let's do it!
Shalom,
Gordon
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