God is Good! All the time!

When you say to an African christian "God is Good" their reply most frequently is "All the time."

As my husband and I travel around in various African countries one of the things that is consistent among the African Christians is their love for the Lord. You know this because their love and praise is outspoken. They are truly focused on His goodness and mercy.

Psalm 107:1 says "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
There are four Psalms that start off with exactly the same words - Psalm 106, 107, 118, and 136.
I am focusing on Psalm 107 because there are four times that it says "Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men"! (v. 8,15, 21, and 31) This Psalm is a thanksgiving to the Lord for His great works of deliverance. (Please take some time to read it.)

There is a difference between the statements "God is Good" and "God is good to me." While they are both true I do think the meaning slightly shifts. Many times because of difficult circumstances or sorrows we may wonder if good is good to "me." We know God is good because He is holy, perfect, righteous, just and truthful -He never lies. So our dear African brothers and sisters are absolutely right when they say "He is good - all the time."

In our christian experience we struggle with this difference sometime. Often when we pray for something and the Lord gives us what we have prayed for we will say "God is good." We may not realize that we may be thinking "God is good to me." What happens if we do not receive what we have diligently prayed for and oftentimes prayed a long time for? We may not think God is good and this is even truer if it seems that you are getting hit from all sides with discouragement and not receiving answers to your prayers - prayers that are unselfish and are meant to bring glory to God.

A dear precious woman, whose husband had left her, and I were praying earnestly for him to return. At the end of our prayer she said "God is good and God is good even if my husband does not come back to me." She knew the truth of God being good in His being and God being good to her. She knew that He loved her and that he would bring those things that were good for her. (Romans 8:28,29)

I tell the Lord frequently He is good. I must confess that I worry how I would respond in a dreadful situation. When I tell Him He is good I try to remember He is good - all the time. That means that regardless of my circumstances He is good and as I go through those difficult times I need to remember His mercy endures forever.

The next time someone says "God is good" tell them "all the time." It is a good reminder to us that in spite of circumstances He is good! - all the time!