God is good...

2 Chronicles 5:13 "...they praised the Lord saying, "He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting,"

We, as Christians, are bold to declare that God is good. The world around us questions such a claim pointing to the evil in every direction, but what they miss is the amazing evidence of God's goodness and the real cause of the evil they say disproves our claim of God's goodness.

In the verse I noted above the choir at the dedication of the temple declares, "He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting," The evidence of God's goodness is his lovingkindness that is ongoing, everlasting. It's his lovingkindness that proves his goodness. What is lovingkindness? The answer to that will help our current culture understand the goodness of God more clearly. (I will also note the cause of the evil credited to God in a moment.) The dictionary defines lovingkindness in this way, "tender kindness motivated by or expressing affection."

The evidence of God's goodness is his ongoing tender kindnesses to the world motivated by his affection for mankind. God loves us. It's evident in the cross most clearly, but it's evident every morning, with every wave, with every breath we take. His kindness is demonstrated in his ongoing care for us and provision for a world that, for the most part, wants nothing to do with him.

God is good because his lovingkindness is everlasting. He forever will be the same in his care and mercy to mankind. It's revealed in the morning sun, the afternoon rain, the wave that brings oxygen to the sea, the wind that refreshes the air and a thousand other things we often miss or simply take for granted.

Sadly many have focused on the problems and evils of our world as evidence that God is not good or that he simply doesn't exist. If we could see things clearly the evils around us would not disprove God's existence, but would in fact prove the presence of both an enemy of the human race and the nature of our own hearts. We have credited the good one, God, with things we and the enemy of our souls have done. God's lovingkindness has continued to provide for us even in our rebellion from him.

God is good. In his goodness he continues to demonstrate his lovingkindness in spite of what we have done to each other and to the world around us. What an amazing God! His lovingkindness is everlasting!