How do we define “good”–more importantly, is there an unchanging definition of good? Are we to figure it out anew, or is there a trusted tradition we can turn to? How does this help us to understand “goodness” as a Spiritual fruit?
We are going to be looking at what the Scriptures teach about God’s goodness for the next few months. Let us gaze together, fix our eyes on Him, behold His goodness, hear of His goodness, and look to the Spirit to work His goodness in us.
God is Good
Our understanding of goodness, or of “good” is rooted in Who God Is. It is displayed in His works, shown that we may marvel. We exhibit goodness as a fruit of His Spirit living and working in us. Not only does He conform us to the image of Jesus Christ–He also makes us zealous for good works and makes us fruitful in all our desire for goodness.
Ahhh, the realm of desire and of delight. God’s people do not seek their own glory, and will battle against the fleshly desire for individual glory. Rather, we worship the God of all glory, who has called us into His glory, and we cry out to Him with a desire to see His glory. To see Him as He is. To be with Him, and be like Him.
Jesus revealed to His disciples on their last night together that He longed for them to see His glory and to be with Him where He would dwell. This is a desire that we must take to heart, treasure up in our hearts, and let it seep down into the core of our being–shaping our desires.
God Reveals His Goodness
When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the immediate answer was that God would make His goodness pass before Moses! Read this passage a couple times, slowly, treasuring it up in your heart:
Exodus 33:18-23; 34:5-7 Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.”…you cannot see my face… while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by… YHWH descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of YHWH. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished…
Let’s begin in the middle of this passage, with Moses calling out. As Moses called upon the name of YHWH, God revealed His glory. God revealed in response to Moses asking “Show me Your glory.” Moses enjoyed communion with God; God spoke to him as to a friend. God does not respond “I’ll make My glory pass before you” but that His goodness would pass before Moses. On this earth, in our not-glorified bodies, in our struggle to “mortify” our sins and put off our old man, we cannot handle the fulness of His glory. Though it is that view of His glory our souls long for, to be in His presence with fulness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).
How can this knowledge spur you on to pray? When Jesus was seen in His glory by Peter, James and John, who else appeared on to witness that transfiguration? Moses and Elijah. Think for a bit about how long ago Moses asked for that privilege; and about the patience of God.
Glory and Goodness
We must not be seeking goodness apart from God. Oftentimes we seek after what we consider ‘good’ without thinking about whether that choice or that object or that idea is in line with God’s goodness. When we are asking whether something is good, perhaps we should also be asking “does it glorify God? How so?” Likewise, we can think about our own ‘goodness’ or quest for goodness as reflective of His, and glorifying Him.
In this post-Genesis 3 world, every aspect of human nature has been impacted by the Fall. None of my “good works” is pure and therefore truly good. Every thought and act is tainted by sin, apart from Christ. That does not mean we are incapable of any degree of truth, goodness, beauty, love, etc. But that none of it can be pure. When the Holy Spirit works in a sinner’s heart–for renewal and regeneration (see Titus 3), our journey of sanctification begins. This is our earthly reality, that while we live here He is conforming us to Christ’s image, changing us from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18); little by little we grow, and are a bit more sanctified. Yet in this world we are never sinless or perfect–it is heresy to believe we are above struggle, or that we can achieve a glorified state in this fallen world.
We must not be tempted into thinking humans have an inherent goodness, and that we can therefore look inward and act according to that. We can do nothing apart from Christ! (John 15:5) He heals our apostasy, and makes us fruitful (Hosea); and will transform us more and more as we walk through all of our Romans 7 moments, and put to death what the Spirit leads us to (Romans 8:1-17).
God is always good, and always does good (Psalm 119:68), and will not only reveal His goodness to us, but work that very goodness into us, a fruit of His Spirit. We look to Him to see and know goodness, and to find what truly satisfies. What did Moses see, feel, experience, and hear, as God descended in the cloud, covered Moses with His hand, and spoke? This is a passage to sit in, and ponder, asking the Spirit to teach us–that His goodness would be displayed to us!
Not for everyone
Not everyone gets this view, for even in seeing they do not see (Matthew 13:13; Isaiah 6:9). Some will see what God reveals of His character and deny or distort it (Romans 1:18-22). “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” It is not that God must show His grace and compassion to all equally; He allows people to deny Him, to exchange knowing Him for whatever suits their momentary desires.
It is also very common to seek what our souls long for in other creatures; those who do miss seeing His goodness because they seek glory in themselves, among themselves. They have instead a temporal glory that will perish. (John 5:44)
Yet, we who know God, and are known by God (Galatians 4:4-9) are taught by the Spirit to know His goodness, His glory, His unchanging nature, and the love eternally shared among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3) we let go of all the lies we formerly clung to and grow in understanding what is truly good, knowing that we have nothing good apart from all His goodness.
“And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 31:14
Glory and Simplicity
When God makes all His goodness pass before Moses, He declares “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished…” God is not at any one “time” only part of these attributes. God is not a conglomeration of parts. He is who He is.
Let this remind you that to take what some call “the attributes” of God, and separate them, trying to understand them as pieces of a puzzle, is not the way God has revealed Himself. It is not who He says He is. Goodness is not part of God, and how He sometimes shows up.
When God made all His goodness pass before Moses, He declared His covenant Name that was for His people only; He also declared the attributes that Israel needed to cling to most as they faced the reality of their own sinful hearts.
The Simplicity of God means that since God is not a conglomeration of parts that are split up to do various things–we can trust that He is always Good. He is always all of Who He is! Our Triune God never ceases to be good, and does not cease to be glorious. Consider Moses’ prayer, and this prayer from David, and let them shape your prayers this week.
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:13-14
photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash