Psalm 33:5; Matthew 5:45—Psalm 107:8; Jeremiah 31:14; Psalm 106:1
The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.—Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
My people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
ANDREW BONAR (1810-1892): The first words of Psalm 106 are abundant in thought concerning Jehovah: “For He is good.” Is this not the Old Testament version of “God is love”? And then, “for His mercy endureth for ever.” Is not this the gushing stream from the fountain of Love?
GEORGE BURDER (1752-1832): In discoursing on the glorious perfections of God, His goodness must by no means be omitted; for though all His perfections are His glory, yet this is particularly so called, for when Moses, the man of God, earnestly desired to behold a grand display of the glory of Jehovah, the Lord said, in answer to His petition, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee,” Exodus 33:19; thus intimating that He Himself accounted His goodness to be His glory.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): And what is the goodness of the Lord? Ah, who is capable of returning an answer: human definitions are worthless—But has not the Lord Himself answered our question, and fulfilled His promise to Moses when He declared. “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,” Exodus 34:6,7.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Goodness is the one all-comprehensive character of the Deity, it shines forth in all His works: it meets us wherever we turn our eyes.
GEORGE BURDER: When it relieves the miserable, it is mercy; when it bestows favours on the worthless, it is grace; when it bears with provoking rebels, it is long-suffering; when it confers promised blessings, it is truth; when it supplies indigent beings, it is bounty. The goodness of God is a very comprehensive term; it includes all the forms of His kindness shown to men; whether considered as creatures, as sinners, or as believers.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): You would think, from the way most people talk, that the world was full of misery and full of the anger of the Lord; but it is not. Notwithstanding all the evil that is in it, it is still true that “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): To hear its worthless inhabitants complain, one would think that God dispensed evil, not good. To examine the operation of His hands, everything is marked with mercy and there is no place where His goodness does not appear. The overflowing kindness of God fills the earth everywhere. Even the iniquities of men are rarely a bar to His goodness: He causes “His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends His rain upon the just and the unjust.”
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): No man can look around upon a world like this without sorrow if he possesses the Spirit of Christ. Yet we are made to rejoice as we think of the goodness of the Lord.
JAMES SAURIN (1760-1842): It is impossible to consider the works of the Creator, without receiving evidence of His goodness.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): So that we cannot look any way, but matter of praise presents itself to our view. The whole nature of things is set forth, as an ample theatre of God’s wisdom, justice, and goodness.
THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): We should, with wonder, gratitude, and praise, behold the abundance, which by the wise and kind providence of God, is diffused through the earth: and, while we see year after year crowned with the goodness of the Lord, so that the hills and valleys, covered with corn and cattle, seem to proclaim and rejoice in their Creator’s praise.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The earth, though lying in the wicked one, is filled with the goodness of the Lord. He preserveth man and beast, sustains the young lion in the forest, and feeds the birds of the air, which have neither storehouse or barn, and adorns the insects and the flowers of the field with a beauty and elegance beyond all that can be found in the courts of kings.
H. A. IRONSIDE: It is all because of the goodness of the Lord.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It is comfortable to observe the goodness of the Lord in the gifts of common providence, and even in them to taste covenant-love.
CHARLES SIMEON: To commemorate the goodness of the Lord, “Samuel set up a stone, which he called Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us,” 1 Samuel 7:12.
C. H. SPURGEON: Did Jacob not also offer the worship of testimony when he acknowledged God’s goodness to him all his life? He says, “The God that fed me all my life long,” Genesis 48:15; thus acknowledging that he had been always dependent but always supplied.
JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): The goodness of the Lord—which runs from generation to generation…Whatever our condition is, let it be owned, that God is good, and whatever fails, that His mercy fails not.
C. H. SPURGEON: “For He is good.” This is reason enough for giving Him thanks; goodness is His essence and nature, and therefore He is always to be praised whether we are receiving anything from Him or not. Those who only praise God because He does them good should rise to a higher note and give thanks to Him because He is good. In the truest sense He alone is good, “There is none good but one, that is God,” Luke 18:19; therefore in all gratitude the Lord should have the royal portion. If others seem to be good, He is good. If others are good in a measure, He is good beyond measure. When others behave badly to us, it should only stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the Lord, because He is good; and when we ourselves are conscious that we are far from being good, we should only the more reverently bless Him that “He is good.”
THOMAS SCOTT: We should remember our unworthiness, be thankful for our portion, and use it to the glory of the Giver; admire and imitate His bounty to the indigent, as we are able, and His goodness to the wicked and ungrateful children of men; and pity and pray for those, who abuse these gifts to the dishonour of the Giver.
C. H. SPURGEON: Let our thanks be as many as the stars, and let our lives reflect the goodness of the Lord, even as the moon reflects the light of the sun…We must never tolerate an instant’s unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questionable, this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; His dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the same, and always good. It is not only that He was good, and will be good, but He is good, let His providence be what it may. Therefore let us even at this present moment, though the skies be dark with clouds, yet give thanks unto His name.
