Dearest Sisters in the Lord,
One of the most delightful and meditative ways for me to pray is to spend time dwelling on the characteristics of God, concentrating on Who He is, how magnificent His reign, how wonderful His works!
Come alongside me and we can pray this way together. We might one day focus on His incommunicable characteristics: holy, eternal, infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, abounding in grace. He alone possesses them and shares, or communicates, them with no one and nothing in His creation. Caveat, Dear Ones: when we meditate on these, be prepared to leave your prayer place totally breathless!
However, on another day, we may want to dwell on those characteristics of God that he does communicate, or shares, with us. Such would be love, joy, peace, patience, and goodness, those wonderful “fruits of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5. It is God’s faithful promise to us that when we receive Christ Jesus as our Savior, we begin to experience these special traits for ourselves, and we are, also, glad when we see them exhibited in others. We are made in His image, after all!
So, to start such a devotional today, let us consider goodness—God’s and ours, but we shall quickly discover but they are not one and the same; however, we can still enjoy the comparison and praise Him for any goodness that He places in us.
God’s goodness radiates from all that He is because He is God. His goodness is eternal, there was no beginning to it and there will be no end to it. The goodness in us might allow us to perform a noble deed, or extend an act of kindness—something easy to do when nothing has interfered with our time and no one has disturbed our space.
Unlike us, God’s goodness is infinite—there is no limit to it. The beauty of His creation reveals it to us daily—a captivating sunset, snow sparkling on the mountain, ripples in a stream, a baby’s first words, a familiar hymn, and, without more hesitation—chocolate! We can taste and see His goodness everyday and everywhere:
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Psalm 34:8
Where His goodness is everlasting, ours lasts until someone or something makes us angry, upset, annoyed, and, in arrogance, we refuse to be nice to anyone anymore! Have you ever had one of those days?
God’s goodness is holy. There is nothing unholy in Him. If there is any goodness that emanates from us, it often comes to light with some measure of pride and some need for a reward. What a great feeling to do something good for someone—whether they deserve it or not! We might not say it, but we sure can think it in our heart—just place the royal crown on my head right now!
Our goodness is unholy—pitiable, passing and puffing!
Sisters, I share these thoughts today, because it is so important to remember God’s goodness— and forget ours! The truth of the matter is that there is nothing good in us, unless we wear the robe of righteousness that Jesus Christ wove for us in His blood.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.
Isaiah 61:10a
Goodness belongs to God alone and His goodness is always accompanied by His glory—something Moses saw when God permitted him to in Exodus 33. Moses yearned to see God Almighty, and the God of all Grace rendered him the unsurpassable privilege of experiencing on earth His Shekinah glory, calling it His goodness while revealing His graciousness and mercy.
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
Exodus 33:19
We can only gasp with wonder and awe at the thought! Yet, someday, you and I will see the same in Heaven:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6
Ah, how good for us to linger on God’s Goodness for the rest of the day, and tomorrow, and the next day, and, indeed, for all the days of our life.
In His Grace and Goodness,
Mimi