God is Good….All the Time. All the Time….God is Good.
Some years ago, the phrase “God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good” became popular. It was given in a call-and-response pattern. Our African Associate Pastor, in his beautiful African accent, begins every message he gives with “God is good!” And, he waits until we reply “All the time!” Then he says “All the time…..” And we reply, “God is good!” He also closes each of his messages with the same words. He is impressing upon us the goodness of God. And, since he came to us about five months ago, we have become more enthused as we raise our voices, with huge smiles on our faces and joyously declare those words. We love it, and we love him! And, you know what? The gooder (that really should be a word) God gets to us!
Yesterday morning I woke up with such gratitude and said “God, you’re so good to me!” Then that phrase came to my mind and as I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline, a friend posted this photo below. The message was coming through, loud and clear. In spite of everything going on in our lives — the good, the bad and the ugly — God is so good. It seemed God wanted me to remind us of that today!
I’m sure there are those who roll their eyes when they hear someone say that phrase – especially when they’re going through tough times. And, I’ll be honest with you, there are times when I’m thinking “What’s up with this or that, God?” and then when I say, “God, you’re so good all the time”, I am putting my faith and trust in Him. No doubt, there are those who look at us hands-waving, Bible-toting, energy-flailing, do-gooders and saying “God is good”, ask their selves “What nut tree did those nuts fall from?” And they may even ask “Why can’t I say that phrase as energetically as they do?”
An old song “Give Thanks” by Don Moen comes to my mind. The chorus goes “Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son.” Those words may swirl in people’s heads because they question “How can I give thanks with a grateful heart when I am going through so much turmoil? And, the Holy One? “How could He be holy and allow so much evil and corruption to run rampant in this world we live in?” I can only imagine how hard it must be for those who don’t know God and sense His great love for them that they find it hard to focus on how holy He is, but that doesn’t change the fact that He IS holy. Despite anyone’s doubts, His love endures forever and He is so understanding of all of our human doubts.
May I suggest that those of us who say “God is good all the time” have captured the heart of God and it’s not because of all of His hand-outs to us? Even when we don’t have a grateful heart because things just aren’t going our way, we can still look at the holiness of our God. The fact remains that God loves us all the time despite the doubts we all have from time to time.
Maybe today you’re struggling with giving thanks with a grateful heart, and saying “God is good all the time”, then I urge you to turn your focus on the Holy One. If you’re unable to do that, then just remember that He has given His only Son for us, despite the fact that He knew we would have doubts in His holiness. Go ahead and be human. Be upset about all the bad stuff that is happening in life but remember God’s love for you will never leave you – in fact, it will endure forever. We can all be thankful for that. God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good!
“Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Psalm 136:26