It’s a wile of the devil to move us away from seeing that God is always, only, good to us. There is the Hebrew word in the OT “Checed” which is rich is its description of God’s goodness. ‘For the Lord is good and His “checed” endures forever’ is the declaration in Psalm 136, not just once but twenty six times.
Our ability to not just mentally assent to this truth but live in the reality of it is foundational to our growth and development as His child. If we do not fundamentally believe that God will be good to us INDEPENDENT of our performance we do not have strength in our foundation. Our foundation with Him must rest upon knowing, believing and seeing that He is good and He is good to us because of the intense love He has for us.
It is vital to our relationship that this truth is our grounding in all things. So much so that Jesus’ great prayer from John chapter 17:26 “ I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them, was essential for every disciple to possess.
Jesus came as the express image of God manifesting the very heart of our Father. He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. (Acts 10:38) Jesus corrected religion, tradition, doubt, unbelief, confusion, fear, every condition of man that affected his well being and wholeness in order that they might have life and have it more abundantly all because of the goodness of God.
Checed means loving kindness, acts of kindness, steadfast love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, goodness, devotion. It is used 248 times in the OT. The word carries three main ideas and they always interact. They are strength, steadfastness and love. One alone does not carry the full implication of Checed. God in his love moves towards us in his acts of kindness with strength, goodness, mercy, grace, whatever we need to help. He is stedfast in his faithfulness to us because He is absolutely devoted to our care and well being. He is not willing for any to perish. He takes pleasure in those who hope in his stedfast love.- Checed -Ps. 147.11.
There are four occasions in the OT where the testimony of Gods nature is goodness and they are found in Exodus 34:6; Nehemiah 9:17;Psalm 103:8; Jonah 4:2. Our God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in stedfast love and faithfulness.
Our verse today reminds us when we lose sight of the truth that God is only good, always good, we do lose heart, faint and ultimately give in to the temptation to doubt God. We stop trying. We do not engage in the battle. This is exactly where the devil wants us; doubting God and removed from our place of fellowship with Him, which then leaves us vulnerable and capable of being devoured. God is our refuge, a very present help in time of need.
Again, there is one thing that God requires from us and that is to come to Him believing that He is good and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We must believe God is good not just in theory but good to us personally.
Let’s not allow circumstances of life to define who God is to us, but let us be those who choose to believe He is good. He is at work on our behalf. He is a very present help in time of need.
For the Lord is good and His “checed” endures forever.