The Goodness of God

You know, I don’t know about the rest of you, but we are, I don’t know. It feels like we kind of got to turn a page this week. We got to like say goodbye to something that’s been kind of annoying. At least to me, it may not be annoying to everyone. It’s been annoying to me. We got to kind of turn a page. We get to enter a new season. As a nation. Whether you’re happy about that or sad about that, that’s not what I mean. The truth is we’re entering something new. We’re walking into something new as a nation. But for some people, we’re walking into a new season as individuals.

But I personally, as a person who doesn’t like change, this is a weird thing I’m gonna say, but I love a season change. Like I truly do. I love a season change. I love it in the natural and I love it in the spiritual. And right now, I feel like this week we’ve experienced a lot of seasonal change, both like in our nation, but also like in our city. It was like fall one day, and then it was winter, and now we’re back to fall. Very new Mexico, very new Mexico. But honestly, I kind of like it. It’s kind of fun. Like, that’s to me what a season change can be.

And then naturally, we’re also entering into the holiday season. Which I don’t know about the rest of you. That excites me. I love the holiday season. And if you’re in my house, that starts in September. Like September hits, and like the whole house is changing multiple times in four months. We do big, we do big Halloween. I didn’t used to do Halloween, but we have a seven-year-old, and she loves Halloween. Sorry, I don’t know. She just loves the whole thing, she loves the spooky thing. So we do the Halloween thing, and then when Halloween’s over, yes, I am one of those people. My tree goes up on November 1st. It does. And I don’t put Christmas ornaments on it yet. I decorate it for fall. So, you know, we kind of hang out there. And then I go all out for Christmas. My house is Christmas everywhere, it’s been like that since I was a teenager. I love Christmas lights, and I will not apologize for it. I like it, and that’s just the way it is. I think it’s a great way to create memories for our family, but that’s how I have always been, and I will always be that way.

But one thing that always comes to mind is I always kind of feel sad for Thanksgiving. It kind of gets gypped. We like skip right over it, or it’s like, oh, it’s just the one day. But can I tell you something? As much as I love them all, Thanksgiving is truly my favorite. It really is. David does not believe me. And it’s probably because of the way the house looks at Christmas versus Thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving to me, the reason I think it’s special is it’s simple. It’s a simple day. It’s one day. And I think that that is a great reminder that yes, as a nation, we have a day where we get to be thankful. But as believers, it’s a great reminder that gratitude should be on our lips at all times. Gratitude is a posture that believers should carry with them all the time. Because it should be everywhere. I know it’s not everywhere, but it should be. And for us as believers, we should really be taking the time to turn our attention to the things that God has done in our lives. Because God has done incredible things in your life.

God’s goodness

And so this morning I really do believe that God wants us to focus on his goodness. God’s goodness. And I don’t know about this isn’t true for everyone, but for me, God is good is a foundational belief in me. You cannot shake that in me. No matter how hard you try. There’s plenty of other things you can make me question, make me wonder. God is good, you cannot shake in me. From the time I was little, my parents taught me that. This church taught me that. No matter what happens, God is good. That remains true. Period. It will not change.

Now I recognize other people in the room, you aren’t raised with that. You weren’t raised to think that. God was an angry God. Or God was waiting to strike you down for something that you had done. Or maybe if it’s the mistakes that you’ve made, you don’t think that God can forgive and redeem that in you. But I’m here to tell you today that God is good. And all of those things that people try to shake it within you, if if this happens, then how is God good? Well, then it wasn’t from God. Because God is good. And so we’re gonna really put our attention this morning on the goodness of God. Because it can be hard to find. I recognize that. And so we’re gonna find ways to find it.

Listen, I know that no matter what season we’re in, life can be really difficult. It can be really hard. It can be hard to see the good in people, it can be hard to see the good in your own life. But trust me in this: there is more good in your life than bad. There really is. It’s all about what you put your attention on. And the truth is, I’m not saying we ignore bad, because bad does happen. Bad things happen, the world is unpredictable, life is unpredictable. But there is still more good in your life than there is bad.

Over the weekend, this story was sent to Pastor Cindy, and it fit too perfect. So I’m gonna read this. The story is told of an old man with two pockets. One pocket has a hole that he never repairs, the other pocket has no holes, and if a hole develops, he gets it, he gets it sewn up immediately. Throughout the day, whenever he experiences something negative, he puts it in the pocket with a hole. But every good thing he experiences, he places in the pocket without a hole. Every evening, he empties out his pocket, and all he has are blessings. Too many of us put all the good in our lives in the pocket with the holes. We take them for granted, forget them, don’t treasure them. Yet all the negative things we deal with are problems, frustrations, and worries we place in the pocket with no holes. Then at the end of the day, we empty our pockets and find all sorts of problems and no blessings. Learn to let go of all the bad, hold fast to all the good. So that at the end of the day, at the end of your life, you’ll find yourself with no worries, just a pocket full of blessings.

It’s such a simple picture. But we really do the opposite. We pull out the problems at the end of the day. We don’t pull out the good. And that is not how a believer should live. Because we serve a good God. And so no matter what’s going on, God is good. So our life can and should be good.

And you know, I think sometimes it’s like when because we focus so much on the problems, we lose sight of the fact that the Bible really does lay out how good God is. And we’re gonna spend a lot of time reading a lot of scripture this morning. So I just suggest you get ready to write a lot of references down because I think they’re really important. We’re gonna start with Psalm 100, verse 5.

For the Lord is good, and his love endures forever. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God’s goodness is ever present, ever present. It never leaves. James 1:17 says,

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly Lights who does not change like shifting shadows.

He is unchanging and consistently good. It’s so easy to forget how good God is, but it’s right there for us to grab hold of. And meditating on scriptures like this daily, I promise will help change your point of view. It will change what you think on. It’ll get your eyes off yourself, which let’s be real with ourselves. We’re not that interesting. I know that’s offensive, but at the end of the day, we’re really not. Our lives are what they are. We’re not that interesting. So let’s stop thinking about ourselves and get our eyes up to God and on the heavenly things that He is doing it on the earth, and we will start to see beauty all around us.

Now, some people might argue that this kind of thinking is naive, or this kind of thinking is turning a blind eye to what is happening in the world. But I argue that when we turn our attention to God, it gets our eyes off the hard things and on to God, and we remember that yes, things are hard, but God is with me. So because God is with me, I have nothing to fear, I have nothing to worry about, whatever the problem is, I’m not walking alone. Do you believe that you are not walking alone? Like to me, that is a huge part of walking our lives out with God being present and God being real to us, is that He is always with us.

Psalm 34, verse 8 says,

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Nahum 1, verse 7 says,

The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.

See, we have nothing to fear. He’s our refuge. And I think it’s safe to say that many of us in the room, when something bad happens, instinctually, we run to God. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s exactly what you should do. You should run to God when something happens. But that shouldn’t be the only time you run to Him. He really, that should not be the only time we do that. And the reason for that is we lose sight of why we ran to Him in the first place. He becomes a fix it. That’s not what God is. He will work on it. But that’s not what He is. We run to Him because He’s good. The instinct is we go to Him because we know He is good. He is faithful. But it’s not because He’s a Mr. Fix It. And if we start treating Him like that, we’re missing out on a whole picture. Because it’s an invitation from God to come to Him. Like He’s inviting us to come to Him. What a gift. What a gift that the creator of the universe is saying, Come. Come to me.

Taste and see

Let’s go back to Psalm 34, verse 8. It says,

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

That’s kind of a funny verse, like taste and see. What do you mean, taste? It sounds kind of weird. Like, I don’t want to taste anyone. It’s weird. But taste can be a lot of things if you really study it out. One of the things that comes to mind is, you know, when you eat, when you’re eating your food, everybody tastes their food different. Like the way I taste something that might be really good, David might think is really bad. Like, that’s it’s a very personal thing when we’re eating our food. It’s very personal what you like and what I like. Like, if you give me a plate of beans, I ain’t eating it. And then it’s so gross. Like I can’t even kind of do it. It’s not gonna happen. Other people in the room love it. They think it’s great. See, it’s different, it’s personal. So when this verse is saying taste and see, he’s saying, come have a personal experience with me. Our experiences with God are personal. How I experience God and the way that he ministers to me is gonna look different than how it is to you. And so that’s why it’s an invitation because you have to come and experience him for yourself. No one else can experience that for you. It’s yours, it’s personal. And until it becomes a reality to you that God is good, you’re missing a whole facet of who he is. But in order to know his goodness, you have to have that intimate relationship with him.

Another way of looking at taste is it could also be an invitation to slow down. To slow down. I think we could all agree we eat too fast. I do. I eat way too fast. It takes more time to like take so much time to cook it, and then it’s gone in like two minutes, and then it takes twice as long to clean up the kitchen. Like we do it too fast, but we do everything in life too fast. Everything is quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. But if you’re like a foodie, then you want to savor your food. You want to enjoy it, you want to partake in it. Well, the same could be said of your relationship with God. You need to slow down. Experience Him in fullness, not rushing through it. Without the truth of God’s goodness working in our lives, we cannot truly take refuge in him. Because we don’t realize all that he’s offering. Because the trust isn’t there. When your relationship with God is personal and real, like it’s so deep within you. And trouble comes. When you go to God, you really can take refuge. Because you fully give it to him.

Psalm 46, verses 1 and 2 says,

God is our refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give away, give way and the mountains fall on into the heart of the sea.

See, he’s reliable. He’s saying, You can take refuge. I’ll give you strength. No matter what is happening in the earth. But for you to really experience that, you have to know him. Isaiah 41 verse 10 says,

So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

This is one of my favorite scriptures, and it has been since I was probably in my 20s. And the reason is I don’t even remember what was going on in my life. It probably was not a big deal because I was in my 20s and problems in your 20s, and problems when you get older look very different. But God gave me this vision, and it’s a vision that I’ve held on to my whole life. From that time until now, and I will continue to. But it was just a vision, and it’s the back side of Jesus, but he’s standing there and he’s holding my right hand. It’s a very vivid visual I have. And sometimes he’s right by me, other times he’s ahead of me and he’s lifting me up. And that has always been something for me that is a picture that I really do believe God gave me to remind me that no matter what is going on, he is present, he is present, I am not alone, and I do not need to fear.

We know that scripture tells us Romans 8:28. We all know this verse, and we know that

in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

The amplified says it this way,

and we know with great confidence that God, who is deeply concerned about us, causes all things to work together as a plan for good for those who love God to those who are called according to his plan and purpose.

See, we know with great confidence, but to have great confidence in anything, you have to have trust. But I can see this beautiful picture that God is painting for us in these scriptures. He’s saying, Taste, come, come. Come and experience all that I have. Come and experience who I am. Get to know me on an intellectual level, on a personal heart level. And then recognize that God cares about every little thing that is happening in your life. And then carry that confidence about who God is so that when things, when the hard things come, we find rest and trust. And know he will make good from it.

What I love about this verse is he’s saying that God is gonna take things and he’s gonna make something out of it. And it’s hard to understand and it’s hard to believe. Because some of the stuff we deal with is stuff we made, but he’ll still make good out of it. He’ll even make good out of the mundane things you do every day if you let him. You know, everybody has days and seasons where it just feels like monotonous. But do you know that God can make that even good? It’s a give and take exchange. We give him first ourselves, then we give our circumstances, and then with that we begin to trust him, and every part of our lives begins to have goodness. Goodness. Do you understand that the boring part of your day doesn’t have to be boring? God can make it great, but you’re just going through the motions. So you’ve got to do something to make a change in that.

It’s our trust in God’s plan and our trust in how good He is that allows our lives to be full of joy. To be full of gratitude at all times. It’s not up to us to make our lives full of joy. It’s us saying, God, here’s my life, and He’ll make it great. And to me, that just takes the pressure off. It kind of takes the pressure off. And so I think it can be hard when you’re in the heart to see how God is going to make good out of this. And I do understand that because there’s been plenty of times that I personally am in something hard and I cannot see what God is going to do. And it’s a lot of times on the other side of the heart in reflection that I see, oh, that’s what God did with that. He took that and he did something good with it.

Here’s a few examples. So I’ve told you that last year I was having health things. And that was probably a season, it was a new season for me. It was full of fear. I was very afraid. I had so many questions. I was so frustrated with my physical body not working the way it was supposed to. And I knew God was with me, and I knew God was giving me answers. I had peace. I had all of that. But I still didn’t understand how God was going to make good out of it. But looking back on it, I see that God took that and He created in me a new understanding for people suffering in their bodies. Now, God didn’t bring that to teach me that, but He sure did take it and help me see that I can stand in the gap for someone who’s suffering physically in their body because what’s happening is real in their mind and in their body. And they need help and they need support. But until you’ve like allowed God to work that out in you, you don’t have that full compassion for someone else dealing with it. But God can take it and He can turn it to good.

I think about Javi’s family. They were in the path of Hurricane Helene. And that was devastating, completely devastating. And you can choose to focus on the devastation and focus on the why did that happen, or you can choose to focus on the reality that Javi’s family has become a source of healing in that community. They were protected, they were helped, and now they are a literal hub in their community, providing food and water and helping rebuild. Where are you gonna look? God took something completely devastating for people, and he is using godly people to create something good out of it.

You know, David and I have been in the midst of some unique things with our daughter. She’s got some funny behavioral things, all kids have all kinds of things, and it’s been hard. It’s been but it’s been months and months and months of reaching out to different types of people and learning about what’s going on and all of these kinds of things. And I cannot this time I can say, in the midst of it, I’ve been able to see God’s goodness. This last week we went and we visited one of her previous schools, and I was just talking to some of the teachers, and I realized in that moment how good God has been. He brought us to the right school, he brought us to the right teacher, he brought us to a place where we understood what was going on with her. And while things are still not completely settled, I know God is gonna make good out of it. I already see how He’s making good for Grace. He’s turning something hard into something great for her. But he’s also turning something great in me. I now have a huge understanding of families who deal with things in their kids that maybe make them outside what would be considered the normal. And I see the gap in Christian community where we need to have more compassion, a more open mind to the things that families and kids are dealing with, and I believe he’s going to use that in me to birth something great in this community, to birth something great in this church, but I have to be looking. I could just focus on how hard it is. I could focus on that, and it’s hard. It’s a daily thing. But I believe that every single day God is taking something and he’s gonna make something new. He’s gonna make something new out of it.

So no matter how hard it is, you gotta start trusting God and start looking for the goodness of God everywhere you are because the hard’s gonna be there. It’s gonna be there. We all know that. It’s easy. We talk about it all the time. It’s easy to find the negative, it’s easy to find the hard. Well, we need to get good at making it easy to find the good and start looking around us to find the goodness of God.

And I just have this kind of in it’s just something that God has put in my heart. And I believe it’s for someone, maybe multiple people in this room. But if you’re in a season of waiting, that can be really, really hard. I recognize that. Waiting on something that you believe God promised and put in front of you, and you’re waiting for that season to come. I know what that’s like. David knows what that’s like, you know, for us when we started the adoption process with grace, God called us to adoption in 2015. Grace was not born until 2017. And that was a season where we believed God had a child for us, but we were sure we’re walking blind, and we had no idea. And it was really hard, and every day I had to take the time to remind myself that it wasn’t just about having a child, it was about having the child that God believes should be placed in our family. And that season of waiting did something beautiful and sweet in me. I learned to trust God with every detail. And anytime I found myself in a waiting season, trust me, it’s worth the wait. Whatever God has for you, whatever his timeline is, it’s better than yours. It’s better than yours. So let Him work in you. Let that season of waiting be a season where God is speaking intimately to you about who He is. And trust me when I say this, I believe this. If it’s not good, God’s not done. If you have something in your life and it’s not good yet, God’s not done. Be patient. Pray. Lean into what God is doing. Don’t pull out of what God is doing. Lean farther in. Because if it’s not good, then God’s not done. And we should be celebrating that. We should be celebrating that God is working to make everything good, no matter what. He’s gonna take the natural things we deal with and he’s gonna turn them into spiritual victories every single time. Every single time.

And so recognizing that we know there’s heart, recognizing that we know it’s really easy to find the bad. How do we look and recognize the good? And that’s where we’re gonna spend the rest of the morning. How do we look for good? Where do we find it?

Look at creation

So, places to look if you’re looking for God’s goodness. Number one, look at creation. Look at creation. God’s creation is one of the easiest places to look. You know that. Just look around. Just look around. Open your eyes. There’s wonder and beauty all around you. One of the places, you know, when you think about creation, obviously, the first thing you think of is look at nature. Now, I say this nicely, but I’m not a nature girl. I don’t want to sleep on the ground. I don’t want to sleep under the stars and under the trees and on the I don’t want to do that. I don’t like it. I’m afraid of too many creatures and things like that. And I watch too many scary movies and bad things happen in the woods, and you know, there’s those things. I don’t, I’m not a nature girl. But I say that, but when I see something beautiful, when I see the leaves are changing. When I see our mountains covered in snow. When I go to an ocean and I can hear the waves and see how far and vast it is. When I see a beautiful sunrise or a sunset. If it for me, if I hear a thunderstorm, I think of God’s goodness. I think of how great He is. Or even on that perfect weather day, which we don’t get a lot of. But when they happen, they’re wonderful. I can see God’s goodness everywhere I look. Do you ever be for me? Sometimes if I’m having a hard time, I just walk outside. I lift my head up, I take a deep breath, and I immediately can feel God’s presence. And I believe that’s because he created it all, and he called it good.

Let’s go back to Genesis in chapter one. We’re not gonna read all of it, we’re just gonna read a few verses. You’ll get the idea and you’ll be reminded. But Genesis 1, verses 3 and 4,

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. God saw it was good.

Genesis chapter 1, verses 9 and 10.

And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear. And it was so. God called the dry ground land, and he gathered the waters he called seas, and God saw that it was good.

God decided, he spoke it, he created it, and he called it good. So creation is one of the places that we can look to see the goodness of God. But we can’t stop there. What else did God create? Mankind. Uh-oh, that makes us nervous. It’s easy to be cynical when we look at people. It’s real easy. But God created you. He created me. He created everyone. Right? Genesis 1, 26 and 27, and then we’re going to skip to verse 31.

Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God.

Wow. Okay, let’s keep going.

Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image in our likeness. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.

And he called it good. Now, the earth, mankind, doesn’t look the way God intended it to look. Because of what? Sin. Because of sin. But we all sin. We all fall short. Every single one of us, whether you’re in this room or outside this room, we’re a work in progress. It doesn’t negate that God intended it for good. We were created to be a literal reflection of God. We were created in his image to be a reflection of his goodness. While it isn’t what he intended, it is still true because God is true to his word. And so when it’s very easy to get cynical about people and why they are the way they are and how the ways they the different ways they look and all of those kinds of things, you need to stop yourself. You need to stop yourself. When you find yourself getting judgmental in your mind, maybe with your lips, I might encourage you to stop for a moment. Make eye contact with that person if they’re around. Smile. And maybe in your mind and in your heart, say, God help me see them. How you see them, how you created them. Because when we stop looking at each other with such disdain and frustration and cynicism, we can see a picture of who God is in every person we encounter. Because God is good and we are a reflection of that goodness.

Psalm 145, verse 9 says,

the Lord is good to all.

Say to all. Are all called good by God. God’s satisfaction with his creation is a demonstration and a reminder of his goodness. He meant all things on this earth for good. Don’t lose sight of that. Keep your eyes open and look for it. It’s everywhere.

Look at his character

The second place we can look is we can look at his character. Look at God’s character. Many of us in the room, I think we sometimes forget that God has these like characteristics about him, things about him and who he is. The first one that comes to mind, and it’s to me, it’s a foundation is God is unchanging. God is unchanging. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 13, verse 8,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

It’s pretty clear. God is unchanging. That is foundational. If you believe God is unchanging, then everything else he says about himself is true. He hasn’t changed. He hasn’t changed at all. And I recognize that, like for us as individuals now, trust is actually really hard to come by. And one of the reasons for that is finding people and getting to know people and recognizing that they have good character and that they are people of integrity is hard. Like, I don’t mean this offensively, but ladies, if people don’t know what they’re gonna get when they say hi to you because you don’t know what mood you’re gonna be in, that takes away trust. It takes away trust. Because we need consistency as humans to know that you’re trustworthy. We need that. We crave it, and God provides it because he’s unchanging. And so, foundationally speaking, you know deep within you that God is unchanging. That makes every other characteristic that he has so worthy of looking at, knowing and learning.

I’m just gonna read a few really quickly. God is love, he is faithful, he is compassionate and merciful. God is holy and is all knowing and all powerful and everywhere. God is peace, God is our refuge and strength, God is patience. These are things we know, right? Like instinctually, you know, if you’ve been in church, you know these things. But sometimes you don’t like really know them. And how do you get to know them? It’s like I learned in church, in kids’ church. The Bible tells me so. Right? And that takes a whole different level when you get older. It’s really cute when you’re a kid. Why do I know that? Well, the Bible tells me so. Well, when we get older, we actually have to know what the Bible says for that to like mean anything. Like you actually have to open it and read it and study it and do all those things. So I’m gonna help you along the way. We’re gonna read scriptures for a few of them, not all of them.

The first one, so important, we know it to be true. God is love. How do we know that? First John 4:16.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them.

He is love. The Bible makes it so clear. It says it. There’s no reason to question it. Psalm 136, verse 1,

give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.

You’re gonna see this over and over. If when you go home today, read Psalm 136, it repeats it over and over. There’s other places in Psalms that do it, but 136, it does it in every verse. Remember that God is love. Trust his word.

God is faithful. Second Timothy 2, verse 13.

If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

He is faithful even when we lack faith. Even when we lack faith, he’s still faithful because he can’t disown himself. It is who he is. Psalm 33, verse 4,

for the word of the Lord is right and true. He is faithful in all he does.

He is faithful in all he does. Scripture makes it clear. He, whatever he has promised, he will be faithful. He is faithful.

God is peace. God is our ultimate source of peace. And honestly, we could all use a lot of that, right? 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 16 says,

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times.

May the Lord of peace himself hold that.

And himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord will be with you always.

He is peace, and he gives peace. It’s both. Colossians 3:15 says,

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Since as members of one body, that’s us, you are called to peace and be thankful.

You see, the peace of God, which is the assurance that we get, peace of God comes from the assurance we have from our relationship with God. Peace comes from the assurance of our relationship with God. It’s got to be deep in us. And then I love at the end it says, and be thankful, because and gratitude like the gratitude piece is important because it puts our attention on his goodness and helps us to maintain our peace. Peace and goodness go hand in hand.

God is your refuge. We’ve read several verses about this already this morning, but here’s a few more.

My God is my rock in whom I take refuge. My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

If scriptures like that don’t make you feel like you’re covered and taken care of, you’re missing it. He’s telling you exactly who he is and exactly what he wants to do for you. Psalm 9 verse 9 and 10.

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you. For you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

I hope that in reading all these scriptures, you’re feeling built up. Because God is showing you, here’s who I am, and it is all good. It is all good. So why do we need to fear? Why do we need to worry? He is all good.

The last one we’re gonna look at is God is your strength. Psalm 28, verse 7.

The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts him.

My heart trusts him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

Real relationship with God means you know him. He wants to know you, but a relationship is two people. We need to know him the same way he knows us. And if you’re questioning if God is good, you need to remember who he says he is, because it is always tied to goodness. He is ever present no matter what’s going on. Whether you’re on the mountaintop or in the valley, God is present. He is always working for our good and reminding us he is good. If you can’t find it, open this. If it doesn’t work when you look at creation, when it doesn’t look when you work when you look at mankind, you need to get in here. Because who he is will always remind you that he is good.

Look at his promises

The last thing we’re gonna look at is we’re gonna look at his promises. We’re gonna look at his promises. Not only is God good himself just as being God, but he promises things, promises us things. Promises things in us, like for us, that will remind us that he is good. And God’s promises become activated in our lives. They become more important in our lives once we’ve built that relationship with him. Without the connection to God, without that being a key part, then these promises aren’t as alive to you as they should be. But if you really know him, and then you are in a season, whether it’s good or bad or whatever, you know that his promises are true, and you know that because he says he is faithful, they work together, and so let’s just look at a few of them the same way.

God promises to be with you. Like I said earlier, that’s one of the greatest promises that I ever carry with me is knowing I’m never alone. But Joshua 1:9 says,

be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

God is near, he is willing to help you, but you have to go near too. It’s both.

God promises rest. This is another one of my favorites, Matthew 11:28.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

We come, he gives. But we have to come. That’s how the promise is activated. We come.

God promises peace. We just talked about that. But the promise of peace is something special. Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7 says,

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ.

I pray for this often. Because a peace that doesn’t make sense, that’s what the scripture is saying. Peace that makes no sense is a promise to us. We get to live in peace because he promises it. But we still have a part to play in the exchange. And that’s how we miss it. Is we think it just comes. But your part is saying, God, I’m here. I need you. I need this relationship with you. I need the reminder of his goodness. And then that promise comes. And you do. You walk around the earth with peace that doesn’t make sense. And if you don’t think that that won’t be a witness to your coworker, you’re crazy. But it’s an exchange. Our the goodness of God in us shines through, but we have a part to play.

God promises mercy and grace. Hebrews 4:16.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Draw near, and he provides. We see it over and over. God’s promises are everywhere in Scripture for us. But we have a part to play and we can’t forget that. But you gotta look. You gotta look. You gotta open your eyes. They gotta be actively participating in the world around you. Because without that, it’s gonna be that your head is down. But God’s goodness will change your life. God’s goodness changes you, which helps change the world.

We respond with gratitude and worship

And so if we are starting to get to a place in our lives where we say, okay, God, I know you’re good. What do we do with that? What’s our response? Okay, God, you’re good. We respond with gratitude and worship. That’s our response to Him. I love that this takes us back to the beginning. We’re in this natural season of Thanksgiving. And if we take the time to prioritize looking for God’s goodness everywhere, then gratitude should be on our lips all the time. Gratitude will always make a difference. And the power of a thankful heart is unmatched. It really is. If you’ve got more thankfulness and gratitude going on in your heart than anything else, your life will look very different. The language of gratitude will transform you from the inside out. It’s not gonna change necessarily what’s happening out here, but it’s gonna change you inside, and then it will start to change your outside.

We have to start expressing our thankfulness for who he is, which is good. Which is good. We shouldn’t, there is something worthy of praise and thanksgiving all the time because God is unchanging and he is good. So if that’s the case, then we need to be expressing it more. We need to fill our lips with his promises. We need to be saying those things over our life, over our families and over everything around us. And so if you take a moment later today or later in the week, you’ll notice that all the scriptures we read pretty much either start or end with give thanks. They either start or end with give thanks. So Thanksgiving is a place where we need to live. I love that we are in a natural season of it, so it’s a great place to kickstart it, but it should be something that is continual, never stopping in your life, ever.

Gratitude draws us closer to God. Because when we focus on the blessings we have, and we have those blessings because of him in the first place. And when we acknowledge that everything we have that is good in our lives comes from him, then we can’t do anything else but express our gratitude. Because nothing we have is ours anyways, it’s his. Our focus from what is bad to what is good. And God is found in the good because He is good. Psalm 107, verse 1 says,

give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever.

This verse, this verse is a call to worship. And that’s what we’re gonna do before we leave. You can go ahead and stand. Before we leave today, we are going to worship. And we are going to shift the atmosphere in the room because worship does that. When we worship God, the atmosphere shifts because our attention gets off us, gets off ourselves, and goes heavenward. It goes heavenward, and that’s where our attention needs to go. And so before we leave today, we’re gonna do just that.

And I’ve asked the worship team to sing goodness of God. But before we do that, there I just want you to have some understanding of where this song came from. Jen Johnson, she’s worship leader at Bethel. She wrote this, she wrote 80% of this song in her car. And while she was, she was writing this song on her way home from the adoption of one of their little boys, and she was overwhelmed by the goodness of God, that all she could do was write these simple lyrics, and they are simple. But I listened to something yesterday, and she communicated that that is the anthem of her life. It is not just a song she wrote in a moment, it is something that she believes deep down in her soul, and I’ve wondered often why when we sing this song, I find myself in tears, and now I understand. It’s because I’ve come to recognize that it’s my anthem too, it’s my foundation, and it needs to be your foundation. Because when God is good, you can’t help but praise with everything that you’ve got. And so I’m gonna ask you to not leave. I’m gonna ask you to stay in this room. Stay with us for a couple more minutes. And as we sing this song, I want you to give it all. Because not because of what’s happening for you, but because no matter what, he is good, and he is bringing good, and I want you to declare it over your life. Declare it. Let’s worship.

And to lay my head. Oh my life, you have been so good with every breath with every breath that I am in sea for the goodness of God I love your voice You have led me through the time in darkness night you are close like no other I’ve known you as a father I’ve known you as a friend and I have lived in a goodness of God until my life you have been good until my life you have been so good with every breath that I made on a goodness I see your goodness your goodness is running after it’s running after me your goodness is running after it’s running after me with my life laid down. You surrender now, I give you everything. Your goodness is running after, it’s running after. Come on, sing that again. Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. Yes, I know. Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. With my life laid down, I’m surrender now. It’s running after me. Oh yes, it is Into my life you have been fake. Into my life you have been so good with every breath that I make Oh I will see anything. Oh, I will say my life, you have been fake. You have been so good. With every breath that I am seeing the beginning God, so your goodness is running, your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. My life laid down. I surrender now. I give you every day. Your goodness is your goodness is running out. It’s running after me. See your goodness. Your goodness is running after. It’s running out to me. It’s running out to me. My life fade down. I’m surrender now. I give you every day.

Thank you, God. Thank you, Father. Right now, we just thank you for your goodness. We rest in your goodness, Father God. We trust as we get ready to go out into our week, God, that you are faithful, you are good. God seal it in our hearts that you are good and that you are worthy of our praise and our gratitude. Just because of who you are, just because of who you are. And so, God, we present our lives as an offering to you. And we believe that goodness will follow us all the days of our life because of you. And we trust that, and we place it in your hands, and we commit this week, God, to go out and show your goodness to the world. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Thank you, church, for worshiping. It really does change the atmosphere, and it’s something that I really deeply personally believe in. And so I worked with