What Is Good?

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 107:1 (NLT)

A common saying among Christians is “God is good!”. I started wondering what that means exactly. The word ‘good’ can be used a lot of different ways. Looking it up in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, I found a few examples. Here are a few.

  • Of favorable character or tendency - check

  • Virtuous, kind- check

  • Loyal - check

  • Close (as in a good friend) - check

  • Praiseworthy - check

  • Of the highest worth (as good as gold) - check

  • Can be relied on - check

It seems when you think about it, we can define ‘good’ in a lot of different ways. It’s one of those words in the English language that has multiple uses and meanings. Maybe that’s why we use it to describe God. There is not one way to describe who he is. And to each of us, he is a God who is personal. When I say God is good, I may be saying he is true and present. When you say God is good, you might be saying he is worthy to be praised. All of them are correct.

Have you thought about what God’s goodness means to you? Why do you think he’s good? What is it you know about him that causes you to think this?

When you answer that, give thanks for it!