Milk, eggs, sugar, flour. Milk, eggs, sugar, flour. Milk, eggs, sugar, flour. Imagine you’re going to the grocery store to pick up a few things, but you didn’t write down what you need. You’re likely going to repeat what you need over and over again in your head so you remember what to pick up at the store. We do this because repetition is a helpful strategy for remembering or memorizing information.
Moses used this strategy as he authored Genesis.
In Genesis 1, certain phrases are repeated multiple times so Israel would remember the details of the Creation story. One of these phrases is, “And God saw that it was good.” During the week of Creation, God saw that the dry land and seas were good (1:10), the plants and trees were good (1:12), the sun and the moon were good, the stars were good (1:18), the sea creatures and birds were good (1:21), the land animals were good (1:25), and after He created man and woman – all of creation was very good (1:31). In the beginning, everything was good until Adam and Eve disobeyed God (Genesis 3). When they decided to eat the forbidden fruit, all of creation became corrupted by sin. Nothing in creation was good anymore, but God was still good. Because He was still good, He promised that Someone would come to one day destroy and crush the evil that had invaded the earth (Genesis 3:15).
We see that God is good throughout Scripture, and His goodness is a particularly popular theme in the Psalms. David writes,
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8, ESV
Another psalmist writes,
“Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing to His name, for it is pleasant!” Psalm 135:3
Our God is good, and He has no sin or evil in Him. We are to praise Him because of His overwhelming goodness! We can see His goodness in our everyday lives. In fact, every good thing we receive or experience on this earth is from God (James 1:17)! God is our refuge and stronghold (Nahum 1:7). We are blessed when we take refuge in Him, in His goodness.
Our God is so good to us! Because He is so good and generous towards us, we are also called to be good and generous towards others (1 Timothy 6:18). But how are we to be good when we have a sinful nature? Sproul writes about the attribute of goodness-
“In our fallen condition, we do not imitate or reflect this aspect of God’s character. Yet believers are called to a life of good works, so with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can grow in goodness and reflect this aspect of God’s nature.”[1]
As Christians, we’ve been called to a life of good works (Ephesians 2:10). This is impossible to do on our own. But God has given all His children the very good gift of the Holy Spirit so we can grow in goodness and become more like Him.
Sometimes, though, doing good and generous things is hard and exhausting. It’s easy to get discouraged or feel like the things you are doing aren’t making that much of an impact. Be encouraged by what Paul wrote to the Galatian Church-
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Do good today! Be generous towards others. Reflect the nature of our good God. And do not grow weary. Do not give up! God is using you and your good acts in His good plan, even if you can’t see or understand how He’s going to use it. You will receive a good reward! Repeat to yourself today- God is good. God is good. Good is good. And give thanks to Him for His goodness.
“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,” Psalm 107:1a
[1] R.C. Sproul, Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2014), 67-68.
