God gives us an abundance of reasons to be grateful, and expressing that gratitude requires one to take notice of His benevolence towards us. The Psalmist was overwhelmed as result of meditating on those things granted to Him and began with the exultation, “Oh.” This exclamation was made with great joy and triumph as he reflected upon the victories of the past through which the Lord had delivered him. Then, the psalmist expressed his blessings and benefits provided to him from the beginning of his life to the present time. Praise is the result of reflections of the past and provides hope for the future. The summation of his exultation is expressed through defining the character of God; “for He is good”! His goodness is never to be loosely defined or reduced to a cliché that is void of deep exultation. This would rob the words of their truest meaning. Then our description of goodness, as it is often defined, would be based on an expectation. When that expectation is not met, then there would rise within the heart a question of His goodness. But when we think of His goodness and have faith in His character, we are privileged to see beyond the moment through the eyes of faith. God was good in the past, He is good in the present, and He will still be good in the future. Faith in God is based on the knowledge gained over the years and trust in His unchanging character. We give thanks to the Lord even when we face difficulties without full explanation of their meaning and the uncertainty of their outcome. God is still good because God is love. Since God is love, He has my interest in mind. Yet, He does not see things as we see them. From His eternal perspective, we are being prepared to dwell with Him in His house, and reign with Him forever!

God is good and His goodness extends beyond our current circumstances. He gave us the assurance through the Apostle Paul that “all things work together for the good of those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). He assures us, as the called, that His Providence is leading us through all things and is in the process of perfecting us. The imperfections within us that prevent our lives from measuring up to the standard of Christ are confronted. Our response to them as we learn to trust God is the material through which godly character is built. We further identify with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for our sakes, not because of His sins but because of our sins. Then we do not consider God as being unfair and as withholding from us what we deserve. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. (Lam 3:22-23) His goodness and His commitment to complete us coincides with His definition of love. The blessings and benefits outweigh whatever we may suffer in this life when we are able to see life as being more than those consumable things for which the world seeks and values. Not only does He not give us what we deserve, which is death as a result of our sins, but He allows us to experience the joy and hope that awaits us. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts”( Eccl 3:11). God is good for more reasons than we currently know, and He continues to reveal His goodness towards us as we continually give thanks for what He has already revealed of Himself. God is good, for there is much more to be revealed regarding the unfolding mystery of His grace towards us!