God is Good

A lttle lesson in etymology. Okay, two. First, "etymology" is the study of words. Now, the real one. Did you know that, in English, the origin of the word, "good," is the word, "God"? Interesting, eh? "Good" in the sense of "kind or benevolent" was attributed to God, so it was the origin of the word.

It is, in fact, fitting. Jesus said, "No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:19). David challenges his readers, "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!" (Psa 34:8). He assures us, "The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made" (Psa 145:9). The prophet Nahum wrote, "The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him" (Nah 1:7). James says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17). We have it on good biblical authority that God is good. More than simply being good, He defines good. No one is good except God alone. "The LORD is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations" (Psa 100:5). Based on this unassailable truth, "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28).

Knowing this, then, should inform our entire lives. When uncomfortable, painful, even disastrous things occur, aside from the understandable response to pain that makes us human, do we rest in the certainty that God is good, or do we respond with anger at God? Do we believe that only God is good, or do we believe that sometimes -- sometimes -- we probably have a better idea of what is good than He does? When God told Saul, "Go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey" (1 Sam 15:3), do we suggest that God would have been wrong for doing so? Do we argue that God is mistaken when He claims, "I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things" (Isa 45:7)?

We who believe in God, who believe He is good, who appreciate His promises and His power and His presence ... do we believe all that? Or do we pass judgment? If He meets our expectations of what is or is not good, then He's alright. If not, either the information is faulty or God Himself is wrong. Either Scripture is mistaken or God is. We are people blessed by a God who defines good and with His breathed Word. Are we going to trust His Word that He is good, or will we presume to judge them? Will we believe the Savior that there is no one good except God, or will we prefer our own standards of "good" against which to measure God?