Often this is a verse we don’t fully understand. The goodness of God isn’t a promise that we will have everything we want when we want it. We will go through hard times, go without things at times and endure pain. When we are in difficult situations it is hard to think that God has allowed this to happen for a reason or that there is something to be learned.

When I was a child, I think the story of Joseph was my favorite because I was named after him. It is still one of my favorite stories because there is so much we can learn from it. Most of us know the story, but here is a quick look at it:

At a young age, Joseph has prophetic dreams that reveal his family’s future and his arrogance about them makes his brothers hate him. At the age of 17, his brothers want to kill him, but they settle to sell him into slavery.    Joseph is sold to Potiphar. As he works for Potiphar, he gains favor and is put in charge of everything he owns. Potiphar’s wife wrongfully accuses Joseph of seducing her and he is sent to prison. In prison, Joseph interprets dreams for Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker. Two years later, Pharaoh has a dream and it cannot be interpreted by the wisest men of Egypt. The cupbearer remembers Joseph and he is brought before Pharaoh. Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream, so Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of all of Egypt.

Joseph’s life was not easy, but God followed him with goodness. When we are in the moment, it is hard to see the whole picture, but it is comforting to know God can.

-Joe Barber

Just as it’s easy for a child to misunderstand the true definition of goodness in their life, I think that at times the same can be said for us as adults. Don’t we often think that in regards to our own life, more is better? That if God is truly “good” to us we will have what we think is best or what we consider “good”. We often lose sight of the fact that just as a parent guides their child through life and makes wise decisions to help their child to grow, God is doing and wants to do the same for us. That may mean that we don’t get everything that we want! God’s perspective of what we need in life may be different than what we think we need. Isaiah 55: 8-9 says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Again, as a parent sees the bigger picture with their children, even more so, God sees the bigger picture in our lives.

So what does a child usually do when they don’t get their way or what they see as “goodness”? Well, they often pout and may even throw a good ‘ole fit. A responsible parent teaches a child that kind of behavior isn’t acceptable or beneficial. They teach them the appropriate response and guide them toward healthy behavior. The goal is that eventually the child will respond well when they aren’t given exactly what they want. I appreciate it when my kids say, “ok” when I tell them we aren’t going to Dairy Queen or whatever their request may have been. I love watching them mature and develop into functioning children. In a similar way, God wants to guide us and wants us to become more mature as we develop in our faith. He wants us to continue to trust in Him and to trust that He has the bigger picture and knows what is best for us. This week let’s remember that God’s goodness is better than anything we could plan for ourselves.

Oh, taste and see that Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Psalm 34:8

-Mary Johnson

I’ve experienced things in my life that felt like anything but good. Sometimes I look around and see so much pain and I wonder if God feels the groaning of our hearts as we walk through this life. Goodness? Really God? Goodness will follow me? Tell that to the woman that was raped. Tell that to the couple that lost their child. To the friends that can’t even have children. To the man dying of cancer. To the wife that was abandoned by her husband. To the young man gripped by depression. To the child that just wants to feel loved by daddy.

Sometimes it seems impossible to understand any goodness from times of pain. Maybe you are like me, when I think of something good that might come out of a hard time, and then try to decide if I think it’s worth it. It’s funny really. To think I can decide whether something does or doesn’t have eternal value, when I can’t even know what the rest of this day holds. It makes me think of when God answered Job in Job 38: 4, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” The rest of that chapter (and the next few), God goes on and on with questions about the awesome power that only He holds. Who am I to decide what God allows is wrong? I put myself in a very dangerous place when I claim to know more than my Creator. I am foolish to climb up on the throne of judgment. Job came to the same conclusion. Chapter 40:3-4, “Then Job answered the LORD and said: “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.“ He put his hand on his mouth, not to stop sharing his pain with God, but to say, “Not my will, Father, but yours.” (Matthew 26:39) Which is at the heart of the matter. His plan. His will, His way. To take some liberty from Gary Thomas’s quote about marriage, “What if God designed us to be made Holy, more than to be made happy?” That is not to say that God doesn’t want us to be happy, but sometimes the pathway there is not one we would chose.

I’ve been reflecting on my life a lot lately because I am in the best place I’ve ever been in nearly every area of my life. His goodness IS following me! But when I didn’t get that job I wanted, I didn’t see His goodness. When I was deeply wounded, I didn’t see His healing. When I was convinced nothing in my life would ever change, I didn’t see His goodness. I see it now. You know what changed? My perspective. Just this morning, I realized something valuable that I brought from a place in my life I couldn’t wait to get away from! It’s great when God lets me see those things. But you know what? I want to serve Him faithfully even if He never reveals what was going on behind the scenes. I don’t have a legitimate reason to not trust Him. He has always been faithful to me. Trust He has a plan to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11), and know that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28). Believe that if He is your shepherd, His goodness and mercy are following you, even if you can’t see it right now.

-Phil Krouse

A wise parent never grabs something out of their baby’s hand that is harmful. Instead they wisely hand the baby something that is safe that they will enjoy and the danger is averted as the baby releases the harmful item. Jesus lovingly does that with us.
When His gaze finds us:

Full of worry, He offers peace… I Peter 5:7

Overwhelmed, He offers us a tower of safety… Ps. 61:2-3

Brokenhearted, He binds and offers healing….Ps. 147:3

Lonely, He turns toward us and fills us…Ps. 25:16

In despair, He picks us up, steadies us and sets our feet upon a rock…Ps. 40:2

Full of jealousy and selfish ambition, He offers wisdom from above which is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere….James 3:16-17

Empty, He offers living water to fill us up….John 4

Bitter, He offers grace…Hebrews 12:15

Weak and off course, he offers strength and direction….Hebrews 12:12-13

And my God will supply every need of yours, according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

We are promised everything we need for living a Godly life in II Peter 1:3. God never abandons us to our own devices to try and become like Him. It is ONLY in Him that we find the power, wisdom and grace to face our weaknesses and strongholds. Grace is the fuel of our Christian walk. I made Jesus Lord of my life 40 years ago and I can resolutely say that I have repeatedly fallen down and gotten up with great accuracy. I have had the spiritual wind knocked out of me as I stumbled over choices and repercussions of bad decisions. I have walked in the folly of pride and crash landed in the sorrow of self. But I can also resolutely say that every time… His hand has been there to lift me and…….

His goodness and mercy have made me strong!

-Phyllis Johnson

These are lyrics from one of my favorite songs, “Nothing Less Than Beautiful” by Aaron Keyes. It is a song that I turn to often when, from a worldly perspective, life is not good…when things are coming against me. It helps me remember the truth of Psalm 23:6…that “Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life”.

It is such an amazing promise to think that we will have goodness all the days of our lives. However, this can really confuse people if we look at goodness from a worldly perspective. From a worldly perspective, goodness would mean that life would always be good and we would no longer have troubles. While this would be wonderful, that is not what David was
alluding to when he wrote the words of this verse. Because sometimes life isn’t always “good” for us…sometimes we have to face trials. What we must recognize though is that God’s goodness is still with us in those moments.

Look at the lyrics at the top of this devotional again…it states that even in tears and weeping He is always good to us. What we need to see is that even in the tough times we face, God’s goodness is still all around us. Here are just a few good things and signs of goodness that He gives us while we are facing tough situations:

Peace

Comfort

Joy

Love

Hope

Maturing of our faith

Growth in our relationship with Him

Our Heavenly Father is astonishing and amazingly good…in the best of times and the worst. His goodness never fails or fades. He is always right there and always knows exactly what each of us need and the areas we need to grow in. His goodness never leaves us even when we are in the deepest pit…He is always working for our good.

For Surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your good and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11

-Sara Miller

I think Paul understood two things:

1. Paul Embraced God’s Purpose: Paul understood that his life was not his own, that it was God’s for the purpose of bringing God glory, honor and fame. That his life was about sharing the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ. That God longs to be known and to be loved by people and Paul was called to bring that message to people. What Paul saw is that even in his imprisonment, (especially in his imprisonment) that is exactly what happened. So, in a prison, out of a prison, Paul was living for Christ and because God was being glorified and saving people, God was good!

2. Paul Embraced God’s Perspective: Paul was sure and had hope that, all his work, all his sacrifice, all the pain he endured was not for an immediate reward, but one that was to come. Paul saw the big picture and here was Paul’s big picture: Paul loved Christ and knew what Christ had asked him to do. So out of love he was obedient to Christ and endured hardship with the hope that in his love for Christ he would receive his reward…spending eternity with Christ! Paul had hope that God would give him his hearts desire, and no circumstance could change his mind that a God who offered that kind of reward, would be anything but good, no matter what this life brought.

There are a lot of ill circumstances that come and remind us of our brokenness, things that for many, leave us asking God, why? Why is this happening to me? The thought of God being good is so far from us that we don’t even know why we believe. But Paul (and really the rest of the apostle’s stories) should stand as a reminder that the God who sent Jesus to save you, the God who is greater than your circumstance, the God who looks at your life in view of eternity, and has promised to love you and look out for you, is GOOD!

And may you spend this day delighting in the God who rescued you despite your brokenness!

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

-Chris Reed

But sometimes it’s tough to see the good in situations. Some of you reading this have gone through unspeakable pain and tragedy. But God’s word is true, and in Romans 8:28 we read, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”    When we read verse 6 in the context of Psalm 23:1-5, it becomes clear that:

1. We have been called by the Shepherd and we belong to Him

2. He gives us what we need, when we need it

3. He provides guidance and protection for us even in the most difficult and uncertain times

When we add these three ideas from the first few verses of Psalm 23 together and then consider verse 6, we realize that if we have faith in the goodness of our Shepherd–all that He has done for us, and simply who He is TO us–then we can believe that He’s working all things together for our good. Even if we don’t understand it with our minds or our emotional responses tell us otherwise…it is still true. We can be certain that His goodness and mercy will follow us. And not just to get us through that specific rough patch, but ALL the days of our lives.

Is there something going on in your life right now in which you are failing to see the goodness and mercy of God? Spend some time in prayer asking God to guide you and to help you see that He is in control and working all things out for your good.

-Carrie Crawford