The Goodness of God
By: Daniel Adams
Genesis 1:4 (KJV) 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
When God saw the light, that it was good, He was seeing an expression of Himself because the scriptures declare that God Himself is light and in Him, there is no darkness. This light proceeded from out of himself. As we read in the first chapter in the first verses of the Bible God is dealing with goodness.
Genesis 1:31 (KJV) 1 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
In this writing today, I want you to see the goodness of God, because when you see it and focus on it, it transforms the way that we think, the way we approach life, the way we approach God, the way we see other people and even the way we look at ourselves.
In the book of Exodus Moses asked God to see His glory. This was a bold question to ask God because Moses could have literally disintegrated at the awesome brilliance and majesty of almighty God. Let's take a look at this instance.
Exodus 33:18 (KJV) 8 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
Exodus 33:19 (KJV) 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
Exodus 34:5-6 (KJV) 5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
This is a profound revelation. I want you to notice that when Moses saw God's glory, he saw all of His goodness and mercy. Now mind you this was only the back side of God. In another verse, God told Moses that if he saw God's face he would die. What I want you to notice is that God was showing Moses the inner reality of who He is. Moses was seeing the attributes of God's character, His goodness, His love, and His mercy, this is very similar to the fruit of the spirit that we see in Galatians chapter five. When we see God's glory, we are seeing the manifestation of His goodness. If you continue reading this chapter, you will see that this revelation of God's goodness caused Moses to shine with the glory of God's power so much so that the Israelites wanted to put a veil over his face because of the brilliance. When the Holy Spirit unveils the goodness of God in an individual, it will have the same effect and cause them to shine with the brilliance of God's power. The power of God is the manifestation of the revelation of His goodness.
David said it this way:
Psalms 27:13 (NKJV) 13 I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.
This world is full of darkness and evil, but when you see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, it changes everything! When a child of God dies, they are escorted to heaven by the angels of God and they will be fully immersed in the glorious world of God's manifested goodness and abundance, but David is saying in this Psalm, I want to see it now in this life. I want to challenge you today to join the ranks of David and believe that you will see God's goodness in your life like never before. You may say, I already know the goodness of the Lord, but there is always MORE in God!
Now going back to when God showed Moses His glory, the word goodness in the original language is the word Tobah and it's a certain type of favor. God is saying today, that He will make His face shine on you and He is making His favor pass before you. Now don't miss this, notice when God showed Moses His glory, He said, "I will proclaim the name of the Lord." The reason this goodness is passing in front is because there is going to be a proclamation of the name of the Lord. When you speak the name of Jesus, you are invoking the blessing and the favor of the Lord in your life.
People of faith should be focused on the goodness of God. They should live on the positive side of life and not the negative. I believe that as you read this writing, the favor of God is going to pass before you and that God is going to cause your cup to overflow. The revelation of the goodness of God will cause you to operate in the realm of supernatural blessing and abundance.
In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was the dwelling place of God's manifested glory and we see that where it went there was blessing and increase in every area. During the three months that the ark of the covenant was in the possession of Obed-Edom, the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his entire household.
Now in the New Testament, we see that God's glory is on the inside of us and when we choose to focus on the goodness of God it activates His manifest presence and favor in our lives.
Let's take another look at an instance where God manifested His glory:
2 Chronicles 5:11-14 (KJV) 11 And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: 12 Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) 13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; 14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
This was such a powerful manifestation of the glory of God that they couldn't even stand up under the profound weight of the majesty of God's awesome manifested goodness. We see this same thing throughout the scriptures, that when God manifests His glory people fall to the ground and are struck with awe under the awesome weight of His presence. It's no wonder we will have to have glorified bodies in heaven because these natural bodies can't take too much of that awesome glory. We also see that there were one hundred and twenty and they were clothed in white, so this was a type and shadow of what happened on the Day of Pentecost when the 120 were filled with the Holy Ghost. As a child of God, you have been washed in the precious blood of Jesus, your sins are gone, and you are clothed in a white robe of righteousness. We need to see ourselves this way because it's how God sees us. There is no condemnation. What I really want to draw your attention to here is that they were making a declaration that the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever, and THEN the house was filled with the glory cloud.
When we see the victory that Jesus has won for us through His death, burial, and resurrection and we praise Him and declare His word by faith, it's THEN that we will see His goodness and favor manifest in our lives. The Holy Spirit is within you, you have to raise your hand as a warrior, not a worrier and you will see His glory fill your life. I pray today that there be an environment of His Glory presence in your life like never before and that His favor will hit your life in a supernatural way today in Jesus' mighty name!
Confession: Today I make the decision to focus on the goodness of God. The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever in my life!
