God is Good All the Time

Psalm 119:65 - "Do good to your servant according to your word, O LORD."

When I lived in the south, preachers loved to bound up to the pulpit, put on a cheesy grin, and pronounce, "God is good, all the time, and all the time . . ." and the expected response from the congregation was for them to shout back, "God is good!"

I hated this exercise. I just thought it looked so dumb. It wasn't that I hated the message. I just hated the way that the message was usually given.

As much as I hated that exercise, the truth of those words remains. God is good all of the time. It's one of His attributes. God is a good God. He's good when I'm not feeling happy. He's good when I can't sleep. He's good when I wonder how I'm going to pay the bills. He's good when I am stressed. God's gooddness never ceases.

That's why David's plea for God to do to him according to his Word puzzles me. God had been so good to David. This guy had been spared from giants, lions, bears, enemies. He had ascended to the throne of Israel. He was rich. He had prestige. What could he have been lacking?

David's plea for God's gooddness reveals the truth that no matter where we are at in our stage of life we can sometimes forget God's goodnness to us. Maybe it wasn't that David forgot God's gooddness as much as it was that David didn't want God's gooddness to stop. Maybe God wants us to pray in such a way. But, maybe God just wants us to trust that He is who He is. God is good. He has never been anything but good to us. So, let us celebrate the truth of God's gooddness and extend that gooddness to others.

Dear God,

You are good. Thank you that we can know that and trust in that. Help us to remember that when we feel like life shoudl revolve around us. Help us to live for you when we don't feel like doing it. Help us to trust that you are who you say that you are, and to remember those times that you have proved yourself to be who you are.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.