“God is good, God is great.
Let us thank Him for this food.
Amen”
I know that some people say the entire blessing which says,
“God is Great, God is Good;
Let us thank Him for our food.
By His hands we all are fed,
Give us Lord our Daily Bread.
Amen.”
As a child, I thought that good and great were synonyms and that we were cheering for God. As I matured I understood we were praising Him with His attributes and attitudes toward us. This child’s prayer is a thank you to The Lord, a way for us to give God thanks and say we have what we have because He is good (blameless, beneficent, and delightful), and because He is great (huge, powerful, majestic, and absolute).
The Bible tells us that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8 tells us,
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
God’s goodness is multifaceted, and it results in our blessings (happiness). He is not alright, He is all right. He is perfect Let’s look at some of the faces of God’s goodness.
He is beneficent, which is to say He is benevolent and helps us. He is good and so He does good for us. Psalm 34:4-7 reads,
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.”
He answers our prayers. He delivers us from danger and the enemy. He surrounds us with His protection. He holds us in His strong hands. Jesus describes Himself as the good shepherd and gives us more aspects of His goodness in John 10:9-18
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Jesus is our salvation and the only way to salvation. He took it the effort out of our incapable hands and gives salvation to us freely. He gives us life, not just meager existence, but abundant life. He gives us a relationship with God. We know Him and He knows us! He brought salvation, not only for Israel but for the world. He willingly gave up His life so we could have all that. And He raised from the dead and conquered sin and death forever! That is good! That is wonderful!
He could do that because He is good. He is righteous, perfect and blameless. (Psalm 92:15). But He loves us so much that in order to make a way for us to be reconciled to Him, Jesus, our God took sin on Himself. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 describes it this way,
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Try to imagine it. Imagine that sin is manure. Imagine you are wearing a beautiful white Armani tuxedo or gorgeous white Vera Wang wedding dress. Now imagine walking out into the pig pen where the manure comes up to your knees. Now picture laying down in it and rolling around until every centimeter of your perfect white clothing is thick with dung, every millimeter of your skin and hair is covered, your ears, nose, and bellybutton are filled with filth. Jesus did that for us, not with manure which can be washed off with soap and long shower, but with sin which can only be atoned for with blood. (Leviticus 17:11).
God is good, all the time! God is enjoyable! He is delightful. He is perfectly good and He will not change. He loves to give us good gifts. He loves to bless us. James 1:17-18 reads,
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
All we have to do is ask with the right motivation and our Lord generously gives to us. (James 4:2-3, James 1:5). If you want something which will harm you, He won’t give it. But He will give you what will benefit you and others. In Matthew 7:7-11 Jesus promises,
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
God is so good! Consider today the many ways that He is good. Consider the wonderful ways He is good to you. We only covered a few, I know you can think of more. He comforts, gives peace, joy, and faith. He carries you through. He has great purposes for you. He transforms you. He gives eternal life. He saves. He protects. He is Justice, Love, and Holy. How is He good to you? Turn around and praise Him for His goodness. Thank The Lord for His goodness.