Imagine you are standing on a rain-soaked pavement in the middle of a grey Tuesday morning. The bus is late. Your coffee is lukewarm. You just received an email that complicates your entire week. In that precise moment, if someone asked you if God is good, what would your gut reaction be? Most of us want to say “yes” because we know the right Sunday school answers. Deep down, our hearts often struggle to reconcile the idea of a perfectly good Father with the gritty reality of a difficult life.
We tend to measure God’s goodness by our current level of comfort. If the sun is out, the bills are paid, and the kids are behaving, we find it easy to sing about His favour. When the “British weather” of life sets in and things turn cold or unpredictable, we start to wonder if He has pulled back. We question if His goodness is conditional or if we have somehow stepped outside of it.
This month, we are going to dismantle that idea completely. We are shifting our vision. We are moving away from a goodness based on our circumstances and stepping into a goodness based entirely on God’s unchanging nature.
The Glory and the Goodness
Think about Moses for a moment. He was a man who had seen the supernatural power of God firsthand. He watched the sea split. He saw bread fall from the sky. Yet, he wanted more. He made a massive request in Exodus. He asked God to show him His glory.
God’s response is fascinating. He did not say He would show Moses His raw power or His terrifying majesty. He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you.” This is a foundational truth we must grasp. To see the glory of God is to see the goodness of God. They are one and the same.
When God wants to reveal His weight, His importance, and His “glory” to you, He does it through the lens of His goodness. This means that goodness is not just an action God takes. It is the very essence of who He is. He cannot be anything other than good. He does not have “good days” and “bad days” with us. His character is a constant, steady stream of loving-kindness that never fluctuates based on our performance or our environment.
Why We Question Him
If God is so good, why do we experience so much pain? Why do we face delays that feel like denials? These are the questions that keep people awake at night. We often struggle because we have a very narrow definition of what “good” looks like. In our modern culture, we equate goodness with ease. We think a good life is one without friction.
Scripture gives us a different perspective. It shows us that God is working on a much larger canvas than our immediate comfort. Sometimes, His goodness looks like protection from things we cannot see. Sometimes, His goodness looks like the discipline that keeps us from destroying ourselves. Other times, His goodness is found in the quiet strength He gives us to endure a season of waiting.
We question Him because we cannot see the end of the story. We are looking at one dark thread in a massive tapestry and deciding the whole thing is ugly. But the Holy Spirit is inviting us to look higher. He wants to train our eyes to spot the “goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” even when the landscape looks barren.
Goodness in the Pain and Delay
It is easy to find God in the breakthroughs. It takes a different kind of spiritual maturity to find Him in the breakdown. I want you to really hear this. God’s goodness remains constant even in your deepest pain. It is constant in your longest delay. It is present in your most confusing uncertainty.
Think of a gardener pruning a rose bush. To an observer who knows nothing of plants, that gardener looks like a villain. He is cutting away living branches. He is causing “wounds” to the plant. But the gardener knows that without the cut, there will be no bloom. The pruning is an act of goodness toward the future version of that bush.
Your current season of delay might be God’s goodness preparing you for a weight of blessing you aren’t yet ready to carry. That “no” you received might be His goodness shielding you from a “yes” that would have eventually crushed you. We must stop measuring His heart by our clocks. He is faithful. He is kind. He is always moving toward your ultimate transformation.
Hidden Mercies in Daily Life
We often wait for the “big” things to happen before we acknowledge God’s hand. We wait for the promotion, the healing, or the miracle. In doing so, we miss the thousand smaller ways He is pouring out His favour every single day.
Transformation starts when we begin to hunt for hidden mercies. It is the unexpected phone call from a friend when you feel lonely. It is the way a particular verse jumps off the page just when you need encouragement. It is the peace that settles over your heart in a hospital waiting room. These are not coincidences. They are the deliberate, tender touches of a Father who wants you to know He is there.
The Holy Spirit is active and moving in your life right now. He is not a distant deity watching from a far-off heaven. He is the one breathing life into your spirit. He is the one prompting you to keep going. When you start to acknowledge these small moments as “goodness”, your entire perspective shifts. You stop living in a state of scarcity and start living in a state of abundance.
Shifting Your Vision
The Psalmist tells us to “taste and see that the Lord is good”. Notice the order. You have to participate. You have to “taste”. This is an invitation to experience God, not just study Him. You can know the theology of goodness in your head and still be starving for the reality of it in your heart.
To shift your vision, you must make a conscious decision to believe God’s character over your feelings. Your feelings will tell you that you are abandoned. Your feelings will tell you that things will never change. But the Word of God says He will never leave you. It says His mercies are new every morning.
We are training our eyes this month. We are looking past the grey clouds of our circumstances to see the sun that is always shining above them. We are deciding that God is good because He said He is, and that is enough for us.
In Summary: The Foundations
As we walk through this month together, I want these three points to settle deep into your spirit. These are the anchors for your soul when the waves get rough.
First, God’s goodness is constant. It does not change when your life gets hard. He is just as good in the valley of the shadow of death as He is on the mountaintop of victory. You can rely on His nature because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Second, goodness is not measured by comfort. We must stop using our physical ease as a barometer for God’s love. True goodness is found in His faithful nature. It is found in His commitment to your growth, your holiness, and your eternal joy.
Third, seeing His goodness requires a shift in vision. You must ask the Holy Spirit to help you spot His hand. You must choose to look for the hidden mercies. When you train your eyes to see His goodness, you will find it everywhere. You will see it in the land of the living, right here and right now.
Your Roadmap for the Month
To help you really lean into this theme, we have prepared four specific guides that will roll out over the coming weeks. Each one is designed to take these truths from your head to your heart.
- The Prayer Guide: The Goodness Encounter This is not about asking for things. It is about positioning yourself to experience the presence of the Good Shepherd. We will focus on contemplative prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit as He reveals the Father’s heart to you.
- Bible Studies: Tracing the Goodness of God Through Scripture We are going to look at the lives of people like Joseph, David, and Paul. We will see how God’s goodness was woven through their darkest moments and how it eventually led them to a place of incredible purpose.
- Discipleship Guide: Trading Fear for Favour Fear is the primary enemy of experiencing goodness. When we are afraid, we are looking for the “bad” that might happen. This guide will give you practical, spiritual tools to silence fear and start expecting the favour of God instead.
- Practical Tips: 7 Ways to Experience God’s Goodness Every Day Transformation needs legs. This guide will give you simple, daily habits – like gratitude journaling and intentional acts of kindness – that will help you stay grounded in the reality of God’s goodness.
My Challenge to You
I want to challenge you this week. Do not wait for something “good” to happen before you thank God for His goodness. Start right now. Even if you are in the middle of a struggle, lift your eyes and say, “Lord, I believe you are good, and I thank you for your presence in this moment.”
Watch how that one simple act of faith changes the atmosphere of your heart. When you praise Him for His character rather than His “performance” in your life, you tap into a level of peace that the world cannot understand. You become unshakeable.
I am praying for you this month. I am praying that your eyes will be opened to the overwhelming, relentless goodness of your Father. I am praying that you would stop merely surviving and start thriving in the knowledge that you are cherished by a God who is working all things together for your good.
Taste and see, my friend. He is better than you think.
