We will see God's GOODNESS

Keyword goodness (noun): praiseworthy character; virtue, kindness, benevolence  

I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13 CSB

God’s goodness.

The Hebrew word for good means good in the widest sense. Beauty, welfare, and joy to the strongest degree.[1]

Can we believe that we will see God’s kind of goodness in this life?

Sometimes it’s easy. We see it in a breathtaking sunrise, in the new-fallen snow, and in the first buds of spring. We hear it in a baby’s laugh, in the just-right song for the moment, and in the opening of the garage door signifying someone we were praying for made it home. We taste it as we sit down to a meal after a long day–even if it we got it from the drive-thru on the way home.

But other times, we feel like we might never see it again.

Long stretches of illness and pain. Financial struggles that just seem to be getting worse. Faithful prayers that seem to go unanswered.

Where is your goodness in this time of life God?

I try to find it on my daily walk. It’s not hard when I’m on a trail in the woods or on the beach path near my home. His creativity and power is so evident in nature, and seeing his beauty gives me hope.

But my work-day walk is an ugly one. The only route I have time for during my short lunch is through a noisy and busy industrial park. Airplanes constantly take off and land on the adjacent runway, and garbage trucks rumble past me on their way to the dump.

One bleak January day, I really wanted to see God’s goodness. I was looking hard along this walk for something pretty, peaceful, or inspiring. Nothing. Not one flower poking through the gray sidewalk, not one spot of blue sky, not one person passing by with a smile.

“Where is it, God?” I asked. “Where is your goodness?” 

I went back to work without an answer. I hadn’t seen anything good. But as the afternoon went on, I noticed how good I felt. Getting outside and moving my body had refreshed and energized me. My mind was clear and my muscles felt strong. The goodness of the walk was showing up inside me–in ways I couldn’t see or even comprehend.

Good in the widest sense. Beauty, welfare, and joy to the strongest degree.

This promise might mean much more than I thought…

As we learn to trust God’s good heart, we will start to discover just how constant his favor and kindness is to us. We will learn that we can experience his goodness even when things don’t look like we want them to, even when we don’t understand why something is happening, even when we don’t feel good.

His goodness will show up in deeper, wider, and different ways than we can ever imagine.

We will see.

Dear Jesus, thank you for your goodness to me. I want to see more and more of you and your goodness in my life. Please help me to trust you no matter what I can or cannot see. Amen.

[1] "H2895 - ṭôḇ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv)." Blue Letter Bible. Web. 17 Mar, 2023. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2895/kjv/wlc/0-1/>.