How Great is the Goodness of God

“Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You  In the presence of the sons of men!” Psalm 31:19 NKJV

A simple reading of this verse this morning left me with a mountain of meditation for pondering the goodness of God.  Think with me for a minute on the goodness of God.  Does it have a beginning or an ending?  Have you experienced it at all? In what way? The goodness of God is so immense, so extensive, so eternal that we cannot now or ever exhaust it.  As I meditated on God’s Word this morning, so many glorious evidences of God’s goodness in my own life came to mind, not the least of which is salvation.  What if that were all you could think of?  What if the only manifestation of the goodness of God toward you was salvation?  Would that be enough to declare the greatness of God’s goodness?  It most certainly would be.  See Christians, should this world deliver us nothing but misery and contempt, via life’s circumstances, it is always temporary.  Maybe you were born with a physical or mental handicap, maybe at some point you acquired a debilitating disease, perhaps you’ve experienced financial ruin, physical or mental harm or abuse.  Far from belittling any of those experiences, each of them are only temporary, confined to this life.  Yet if you have experienced the goodness of God through salvation, what awaits is an eternal drink from the fountain of God’s everlasting goodness.  That should be enough to motivate us through the most dire of circumstances.  Charles Spurgeon writes,

“The Lord has laid up in reserve for his people supplies beyond all count. In the treasury of the covenant, in the field of redemption, in the caskets of the promises, in the granaries of providence, the Lord has provided for all the needs which can possibly occur to his chosen. We ought often to consider the laid-up goodness of God which has not yet been distributed to the chosen, but is already provided for them; if we are much in such contemplations, we shall be led to feel devout gratitude, such as glowed in the heart of David. “Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men.” Heavenly mercy is not all hidden in the storehouse; in a thousand ways it has already revealed itself on behalf of those who are bold to avow their confidence in God; before their fellow men this goodness of the Lord has been displayed, that a faithless generation might stand rebuked.”

How can it be that such goodness should be reserved for those in Christ, those whom the Psalmist says “fear [God]” and “trust in [Him]”?  It’s simply stunning to know that whatever goodness we have received from God, whether we think it large or small, it simply cannot compare with the infinite measure of His goodness reserved for us in eternity with Him.  Meditate on that and be moved in your heart to worship the God of goodness.

“We serve a good Master. Faith receives a large reward even now, but looks for her full inheritance in the future. Who would not desire to take his lot with the servants of a Master whose boundless love fills all holy minds with astonishment?” – C.H. Spurgeon