In a church I belonged to years ago the person who opened the service always opened with these words:

God is good ALL THE TIME; All the time GOD IS GOOD.

Do you know deep down, rock-solid, for dead sure, that the God you worship, the God you follow, the God you serve, is a good God?

Theologians throughout the centuries have talked about the intrinsic goodness of God, which means in everyday language that all the good that God does in this world and all the good he does in your life or in my life flows out of this basic character and nature.

In the ancient Jewish song book we find several clips of verses that helps us know that God is intrinsically good….

Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You…”  Psalms 31:19

When I thought about that, I imagined a barn that’s filled with hay bales from the floor all the way to the rafters. When the rancher goes by it every day, he knows he’s not running out of hay soon.

Did you hear about the two boys playing and the older brother said to the younger, “Close your eyes and open your mouth and tell me what this tastes like.”  The little brother did so and guessed, “Is it peanut butter?” The older brother said, “No.”  “Is it mayonnaise?”  No.  “Is it peaches?”  No.  Then the older brother said, “I’ll give you a hint…it isn’t anything you eat.”

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good…  Psalm 34:8

I was having a conversation with a new friend recently and they said,

“I’ve done a lot of dumb things.”

“Today?” I asked.

“Too many days. Sorry I don’t mean to sound vague and weird.”

“Excuse me for preaching, but what one has done is not nearly as important as what one is doing. God’s name is I Am—not I Was, or I Will Be.”

“I’ve never heard that said before, ever. ‘What one has done is not nearly as important as what one is doing.’ I often fail miserably in my trying. God has a lot of work to do. Glad he’s so good and that He is holding my hand,” they said.

…I will wait on Your name, for it is good.  Psalm 52:9

Every time your name comes to my mind, David says, I just smile. I think of your name and I think good.

Lynette and I have four grandchildren. All I have to do is call the youngest one’s name and my wife will smile.  You know you are resting in the truth of the goodness of an intrinsically good God when at the very mention of the name of Jesus brings a smile to your face.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever… Psalm 100:5

God’s goodness doesn’t have a short shelf life.

And then at one point, David just throws up his hands and he cries out…

What can I render to the Lord for all of his goodness to me?  Psalm 116:12

Have you ever been in that situation where God has provided? He’s answered a prayer. He’s restored you. He’s forgiven you. Where God’s goodness is so overwhelming and you say, “That’s it. How can God be so good? How can I respond to a God who’s been that good to me?”

Twenty-year-old Lygon Stevens, an experienced mountaineer, had reached the summits of Mt. McKinley, Mt. Rainier, four Andean peaks in Ecuador, and 39 of Colorado’s highest mountains. “I climb because I love the mountains,” she said, “and I meet God there.” In January 2008, Lygon died in an avalanche while climbing Little Bear Peak in southern Colorado with her brother Nicklis, who survived.

When her parents discovered her journals, they were deeply moved by the intimacy of her walk with Christ. “Always a shining light for Him,” her mother said, “Lygon experienced a depth and honesty in her relationship with the Lord, which even seasoned veterans of faith long to have.”

In Lygon’s final journal entry, written from her tent 3 days before the avalanche, she said: “God is good, and He has a plan for our lives that is greater and more blessed than the lives we pick out for ourselves, and I am so thankful about that. Thank You, Lord, for bringing me this far and to this place. I leave the rest—my future—in those same hands and say thank You.”

When do you know the fullness of the goodness of God? On the other side, when you see it unabated and untainted by the evil that exists in this world. The New Heaven is the ultimate expression of our intrinsically good God. And that’s what is awaiting those of us who have trusted Christ.

The more we know the goodness of God, the longer we walk with a good God, the more we trust a good God, the more we open up our lives to his good work in our lives, then we will be good and it will be more natural for us to do good. The goodness of a good God has a way of penetrating to our souls and bringing out the better angels of our nature.

And as you walk increasingly with a good God, you’ll grow a big heart and you’ll find yourself being good and doing good naturally, reflexively—like breathing.

When that happens, you bring a heart of goodness into every environment and arena in your life.

So I say to you just now…

God is good.

What say you?