A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day – May 13, 2019
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
We have used Romans 2:4 many times in our devotionals to try to show the power and reality of the goodness of God. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights. Inevitably people will bring up questions about the Father’s goodness. Why did He let that person die? Why is there so much poverty in the world? What about Job? And on and on it goes. None of these questions change the fact that God is good and He is good all the time. They just tend to create a lazy theology which eliminates any responsibility on our part because everything is under God’s control. It eliminates our personal responsibility to put on the armor of God and use our spiritual authority to fight the good fight of faith.
Let’s look a little closer at an example in Luke that shows the power of the goodness of God:
Now it happened that while Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee), with the people crowding all around Him and listening to the word of God; that He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little distance from the shore. And He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon [Peter], “Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch [of fish].” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night [to the point of exhaustion] and caught nothing [in our nets], but at Your word I will [do as you say and] lower the nets [again].” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were [at the point of] breaking; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats [with fish], so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all his companions were completely astounded at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon [Peter]. Jesus said to Simon, “Have no fear; from now on you will be catching men!” After they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and [a]followed Him [becoming His disciples, believing and trusting in Him and following His example]. (Luke 5:1-11, Amplified Bible)
What we see here is Peter, James and John getting a glimpse of the goodness of God. What was the result? Peter repented and then they all left their lifetime profession to follow Jesus. That is the power of seeing the goodness of God.
Jesus and the Father have not changed. They are the same yesterday, today and forever. So what has changed? It must be us. At some point we have bought a lie from the enemy that God is not good all the time. Bill Johnson says it like this in his book “God is Good”:
“Whatever you think you know about God that you can’t find in the person of Jesus you have reason to question. Jesus Christ is the fullest and most precise revelation of the Father and His nature that could ever be known. Jesus Christ is perfect theology—He is the will of God personified.”
