Students of the Bible know that the command repeated most often in Scripture is God’s settling word: “Do not fear.”
A command heard less often but still with notable frequency is this: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!”
The goodness of God is a description of His essential character. To say that God is good means that God is not evil or unjust, but utterly benevolent and unchangeably generous. Indeed, says A.W. Pink, “God has in himself an infinite and inexhaustible treasure of all blessedness, enough to fill all things.”
As with all His perfections, God’s goodness is not a theoretical concept but a living truth. God is pleased to express His goodness through His deeds and purposes here on earth. The psalmist tightly connects divine character with divine activity when he sings to the Lord in Psalm 119:68,
You are good, and You do good.
In the same spirit, Scripture speaks enthusiastically about God as the source of goodness. For instance, David in Psalm 36 says that God brings many blessings on His people: “They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures” (v. 8). God provides for His thirsty people, allowing us to kneel at His bounteous river and be satisfied.
David builds on the image of God as a bubbling source of water in the next verse:
For with You is the fountain of life.
We are accustomed to finding fountains in carefully controlled settings like parks, swimming pools, and splash pads. But a true fountain is more than a stream of water that looks attractive to passers-by or provides enjoyment for children on a hot day. A true fountain is a source of water from the depths of the earth. Such is God: the fountain of life, the source of unending goodness.
The scriptural portrait of God’s goodness is beautifully captured by the Belgic Confession (1561) when it describes God as the “overflowing fountain of all good” (art. 1). The descriptor overflowing expresses the truth that in all our requesting and receiving, we cannot exhaust God. He cannot be drained by our constant need.
If we trust Him and seek Him with our whole heart, we will never walk away from God unsatisfied.
And if our eyes are opened to His goodness, we’ll come to see what Jeremiah describes in Lamentations 3: “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” (vv. 22–23)
God’s mercies endure, His compassions never fail, and His goodness is new every morning. God’s ever-new goodness teaches us to value His gifts afresh each day.
Many of us have always enjoyed three good meals a day, had a comfortable house to inhabit, and had people to love. Perhaps many of us have long known Jesus as our Savior and always have been strengthened by His Spirit. While these blessings are so familiar, they should ever retain their brightness in our minds and hearts.
As we arise every morning, we step into a world that the good God is preserving and governing. Every morning, we are allowed to begin a new day that our Father has prepared for us.
Filled by God, “the fountain of life,” we can say with David, “My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life.” (Ps. 23:5–6)
The Lord sends constant blessing because that is who God is. His goodness endures, never depleted and never diminished.
We come to the overflowing fountain empty-handed yet boldly, knowing that this good God will surely answer. Says Psalm 31:19, “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You.”
God’s goodness abounds, and my cup overflows.
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