You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. Psalm 119:68
“God is full of kindness and favor and mercy, that God is good-hearted and of good will. Now I looked up the word “good” here as it’s used about God to find out what the Bible did say, what this word does mean. And you know it is one of those words that is so full of meaning that it makes our English language stagger. It means that God is bountiful, that he is cheerful, it means that he is merry and glad and gracious and joyful and kind and sweet and ready.
Now all of those meanings are in the word “good” in Hebrew so that it takes all of those meanings to put it into our English. Thou art good and doest good. Thou art bountiful and doest bountifully. Thou art cheerful and doest cheerfully. Thou art merry and doest merrily. Thou art glad and dost labor in thy gladness. Thou art gracious and doest graciously. Thou art joyful and doest joyfully. Thou art kind and doest kindly. Now it means all that and I suppose it means a good deal more, but it means that God is kind and favorful and merciful, that God has a good heart toward us, that he is a person or a being of good will…
So, you’re not dealing with a sulky, heavy-browed God. You’re dealing with a God who is kind, and then the word ready is in there. I don’t know what the word ready is in there for unless it means that God is there ready to be kind and ready to be gracious and ready to be bountiful. So, He’s a ready, God, and He’s benevolent and cordial and gracious.”
A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) in his sermon entitled “Thou Art Good and Doest Good” delivered on 18 November 1956.
Two days ago, I pulled a gem of a quote from this sermon and decided to spend a few more days with it. Today I feel encouraged by the goodness of God, and specifically his “ready” posture toward us.
So related to generosity, God stands ready to give us what we need, whether we need mercy or provision, or gladness or deliverance. He stands ready to come to our aid. Why celebrate this today?
I am at home catching up on emails from taking last week off work. I need divine assistance in so many ways. I can’t serve without it. And guess what? He stands ready to pour out grace, help, and wisdom I need.
The commands of God find roots in the limitless goodness of God. Lest we let anything sway our generous living, giving, serving, and loving, we must root our obediences in His matchless goodness.