Most of us struggle to believe that God really desires to give us all the best things in life. If we truly believed He one hundred percent give us the very best—we would be constantly talking of His goodness and greatness in our life. We struggle with our image of God because the enemies (the devil, the flesh and the world) are constantly working to pervert and destroy it. That’s what the enemy did to Adam and Eve (who lived in perfection)—when he raised questions about God’s goodness in the Garden. He made them question whether God was holding out on them by forbidding them to eat the fruit.
Our enemy is still working to distort God’s image and lure His children away. He promotes the lesser gods—the gods of materialism, sex, beauty, pleasure, success and popularity—and makes God seem inglorious.
Think about the bad name God has today. He is not known as glorious, majestic, holy, righteous, loving, omnipotent, omniscient, and as the source of all goodness. If He were known for who He IS—our world would be a vastly different place.
In fact, if each of us knew God for Who He Is, each of our individual lives would be vastly different too!
How do I know this? Because the more I know Him—the God of the Bible—the more His presence becomes the greatest influence in my life. I prefer His influence over the influence of my enemies because I see the resulting fruit of His Spirit growing in me. His influence produces more joy and satisfaction or true “goodness” in my life than anything I’ve ever known. Knowing the God of the Bible is so life changing that we can’t contain it—we HAVE to share Him in every aspect of our life.
God becomes the source of all of our goodness and we rejoice in Him as the Psalmist, who wrote:
“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!” (Psalms 31:19-21)
Before I came to know God’s goodness, it never occurred to me that God desires more goodness for me than what I want for my own children. But Jesus said:
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11)
It is my daily prayer to know God for—Who He IS—so that I will experience His transforming goodness and glorify Him for the rest of my life!
