Waiting for God’s Goodness (5)

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings ito search out a matter. Proverbs 25.2

The works of the LORD are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them. Psalm 111.2

Surrounded by goodness
As we have seen throughout this study, God’s goodness is present on every hand; we can observe it in a wide range of situations and things, including God’s Word and Law, creation and culture, and the good works of God’s people in all walks of life. Beyond and over all these, believers see the goodness of God in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and in the heavenly court where Jesus reigns as Lord.

We are surrounded by God’s goodness. It’s just that, for the most part, we’re blinded by sin or handicapped by laziness from seeing those works and appreciating and acknowledging them as manifestations of God’s goodness. And as believers, we are not as energetic or consistent as we should be in doing those good works that manifest the goodness and glory of God.

To clarify, whatever of life, goodness, blessing, or glory we know is neither inherent in us nor derived from our best efforts or our temporal and material circumstances. Rather, the goodness we know in this life – all the forms and expressions of unity, holiness, harmony, order, creativity, and love that we enjoy each day –  is only our experiencing God, in Whom we live and move and have our being. We’re like Pip in Dicken’s Great Expectations, thinking that all our daily bounty and blessing comes from people and things we can see, when in reality, in the unseen background and animating all the blessings we know is a Being we’ve put out of our minds, and never think to acknowledge. Though we always exist in God, our sinfulness and self-centeredness make us blind to His presence and glory, and cause us to take for granted the abundant goodness and many blessings which daily redound to us in and from Him. 

We do not add to the glory or pleasure of God in any way – to His own blessedness or goodness or joy. He is in all these things sufficient in Himself. When we become aware of His goodness, as we experience it in one form or another, the proper response is to acknowledge God’s goodness and praise Him for it, then to proclaim that goodness to others and to emulate it in our works. Whatever is good or blessed or glorious in our lives is only the presence and work of God, manifested in ways appropriate to our need, wrought in, upon, or unto us to draw us more mindfully and gratefully into Him (cf. Acts 17.22-30).

Since at every moment we exist in God, we ought to be more attentive to His goodness and blessing, more mindful of His glory, and quicker to enter His presence and praise, for the joy and pleasure of it, when signaled to do so by the circumstances of our lives or the contemplations of our minds.

For it is God’s glory to conceal His goodness throughout the world around us; and it is our calling as His royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2.9) to search out His goodness and make it known to the world.

Pursuing God’s goodness
The psalmist says that when we delight in the good works of God, we will pursue them diligently. That’s the sense of the Hebrew verb, דְּ֝רוּשִׁ֗ים– studied.The more we note the goodness of God in the world around us, the more we will glimpse God Himself. And the pleasure we derive from this will spur us on to pursue and study the works of God, to be more careful and consistent in seeking to uncover His goodness, concealed in everyday situations and things, so that we may enter His pleasure more consistently, and offer Him the praise and thanks which are His due.

But let’s be honest: How many of us are willing to take on the pursuit and study of the works of God, to know His goodness and enjoy His presence and pleasure? Aren’t we all just too distracted by our mundane busyness, too settled in our avocations and diversions, and just too lazy to gin up the heart and mind necessary for seeking the Lord?

And because this is so, we should not be surprised that we so seldom experienceGod or know the pleasure of His presence in the everyday situations of our lives. The Lord promises that we will find Him, and thus know all the goodness of our lives as His goodness, when we seek the Lord with all our heart (Jer. 29.13). The half-hearted, inconsistent manner in which most Christians approach their reading and study of God’s Word, and the almost non-existent way in which we seek to discover His concealed glory and goodness in the world and the people and things of our daily lives, just about guarantees that we’re not going to take up the pursuitof God and His goodness by studying the works He does all around us every day.

Before we despair
So the next time we begin to despair of the world ever becoming a better place, of people ever treating one another with more civility and love, or of works of beauty and goodness taking the place of the smut and crudity which swirl continuously around us and poison the moral and spiritual air, let us consider the alternative to such despairing – which is to wait upon the Lord for His goodness, and to take up the pursuit of God’s works for the sake of enjoying His pleasure, praising His Name, and making His goodness known to the world.

If the world fails of much goodness, it is not only the world’s fault. It is the fault also of those who, knowing that God is good, and His goodness is everywhere to be discovered, enjoyed, and proclaimed, fail to embrace their calling to seek the Lord with all their hearts in His Word and His works, and to make known the glory and goodness which brings them such pleasure.

Are you waiting on the goodness of the Lord by seeking the Lord in His Word and His works? Or are your best energies of pursuit being frittered away on things that will not last, cannot satisfy, and are not in the best interests of God and His goodness?

For reflection
1.  Many Christians find the idea of studying anything to be an option rather than an integral aspect of their calling to follow Jesus. How do you respond to that idea?

2.  What activities are involved in seeking the Lord in His Word? How about in His works? Since the glory and goodness of God are revealed in His works, shouldn’t we make more effort to seek Him there? Explain.

3.  In a world captive to materialism, narcissism, relativity, and sensuality, what can we expect to be the norms of “goodness” if Christians fail in their calling to note, appreciate, acknowledge, respond to, and proclaim the goodness of God everywhere it occurs?

Next steps – Transformation: How will you begin to pursue the works of God to note and acknowledge and proclaim His goodness as it is revealed there?

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.