Seeking God's Goodness in All Things
Seeking God's goodness in all things is a central theme in biblical thought, encouraging believers to perceive divine benevolence amidst various life circumstances. This pursuit is rooted in the understanding that God is inherently good and the source of all good [6, 16]. The Bible frequently exhorts individuals to "seek the Lord" [4, 5, 12, 14] and to discern what is good [2, 11].
The concept of God's goodness encompasses several aspects:
- Benevolence and Mercy God's goodness is described as a perfection of His character, exercised towards His creatures. This includes His mercy, pity, compassion, and long-suffering patience, even towards impenitent sinners. When God communicates favor to the unworthy, it is called grace [6]. The "loving-kindness of God" is portrayed as great, excellent, good, marvelous, multitudinous, and everlasting, often experienced through Christ [7].
- Divine Provision Seeking God is often linked with the promise of provision. Jesus taught, "But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well" [1]. Similarly, Luke records, "Wherfore seke ye after the kyngedome of God and all these thinges shalbe ministred vnto you" [3]. This suggests that prioritizing God's will and reign leads to the fulfillment of needs.
- Discernment and Thanksgiving Believers are encouraged to "Try all things, and keepe that which is good" [2]. This implies an active discernment of what aligns with God's character and purposes. Furthermore, gratitude is a key response, with admonitions to "In everything give thanks" [15]. This thanksgiving is for all blessings, both temporal and spiritual, including salvation, grace, and peace [8, 15].
- Working for Good A foundational belief is that "all things work together for good" for those who love God [13]. This "good" can be temporal, spiritual (such as the exercise of grace and conformity to God), or eternal [13]. Even afflictions can contribute to the temporal good of God's children [13].
- Active Pursuit Seeking God's goodness is not a passive waiting but an active pursuit. It involves seeking righteousness and lowliness [5], and waiting upon God as the God of providence and salvation, the giver of blessings, and the fulfiller of promises [9]. The pursuit is to know God, fear Him, serve Him, and glorify His name [14].
The pursuit of God's goodness is also tied to the idea of imitation. Josephus noted that those who wish to live well and legislate should contemplate the Divine nature and imitate God's operations as much as humanly possible, recognizing God as the Father and Lord of all things [10]. Adam Clarke further observes that God is more intent on finding good than evil, suggesting that believers should also seek out and encourage the good in others [17].
Sources
- Matthew “But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. -- Matthew 6:33”
- I Thessalonians “I Thessalonians 5:21 (Geneva1599) — Try all things, and keepe that which is good.”
- Luke “Luke 12:31 (Tyndale) — Wherfore seke ye after the kyngedome of God and all these thinges shalbe ministred vnto you.”
- Acts “That the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things. -- Acts 15:17”
- Zephaniah “Zephaniah 2:3 (Geneva1599) — Seeke yee the Lord all the meeke of the earth, which haue wrought his iudgement: seeke righteousnesse, seeke lowlinesse, if so bee that ye may be hid in the day of the Lords wrath.”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Goodness of God — A perfection of his character which he exercises towards his creatures according to their various circumstances and relations (Ps. 145:8, 9; 103:8; 1 John 4:8). Viewed generally, it is benevolence; as exercised with respect to the miseries of his creatures it is mercy, pity, compassion, and in the case of impenitent sinners, long-suffering patience; as exercised in communicating favour on the unworthy it is grace. "Goodness and justice are the several aspects of one unchangeable, infinitely wise, and sovereign moral perfection. God is not sometimes ”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Loving-Kindness of God, The — Is through Christ -- Eph 2:7; Tit 3:4-6. Described as Great. -- Ne 9:17. Excellent. -- Ps 36:7. Good. -- Ps 69:16. Marvellous. -- Ps 17:7; 31:21. Multitudinous. -- Isa 63:7. Everlasting. -- Isa 54:8. Merciful. -- Ps 117:2. Better than life. -- Ps 63:3. Consideration of the dealings of God gives a knowledge of -- Ps 107:43. Saints Betrothed in. -- Ho 2:19. Drawn by. -- Jer 31:3. Preserved by. -- Ps 40:11. Quickened after. -- Ps 119:88. Comforted by. -- Ps 119:76. Look for mercy through. -- Ps 51:1. Receive mercy through. -- Isa 54:8. Are ”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Gifts of God, The — All blessings are -- Jas 1:17; 2Pe 1:3. Are dispensed according to his will -- Ec 2:26; Da 2:21; Ro 12:6; 1Co 7:7. Are free and abundant -- Nu 14:8; Ro 8:32. Spiritual Christ the chief of. -- Isa 42:6; 55:4; Joh 3:16; 4:10; 6:32,33. Are through Christ. -- Ps 68:18; Eph 4:7,8; Joh 6:27. The Holy Spirit. -- Lu 11:13; Ac 8:20. Grace. -- Ps 84:11; Jas 4:6. Wisdom. -- Pr 2:6; Jas 1:5. Repentance. -- Ac 11:18. Faith. -- Eph 2:8; Php 1:29. Righteousness. -- Ro 5:16,17. Strength and power. -- Ps 68:35. A new heart. -- Eze 11:19. Peace. -- Ps 29:11. Rest. ”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Waiting Upon God — As the God of providence -- Jer 14:22. As the God of salvation -- Ps 25:5. As the Giver of all temporal blessings -- Ps 104:27,28; Ps 145:15,16. For Mercy. -- Ps 123:2. Pardon. -- Ps 39:7,8. The consolation of Israel. -- Lu 2:25. Salvation. -- Ge 49:18; Ps 62:1,2. Guidance and teaching. -- Ps 25:5. Protection. -- Ps 33:20; 59:9,10. The fulfillment of His word. -- Hab 2:3. The fulfillment of His promises. -- Ac 1:4. Hope of righteous by faith. -- Ga 5:5. Coming of Christ. -- 1Co 1:7; 1Th 1:10. Is good -- Ps 52:9. God calls us to -- Zep 3:8. Exhortat”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 11, section 4: life well, and give laws to others, in the first place should consider the Divine nature; and, upon the contemplation of God's operations, should thereby imitate the best of all patterns, so far as it is possible for human nature to do, and to endeavor to follow after it: neither could the legislator himself have a right mind without such a contemplation; nor would any thing he should write tend to the promotion of virtue in his readers; I mean, unless they be taught first of all, that God is the Father and Lord of all things, a”
- Amos (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Amos 5:14: Seek good, and not evil,.... Seek not unto, or after, evil persons and evil things; not the company and conversation of evil men, which is infectious and dangerous; nor anything that is evil, or has the appearance of it, especially the evil of evils, sin; which is hateful to God, contrary to his nature and will; is evil in its own nature, and bad in its consequences, and therefore not to be sought, but shunned and avoided; but seek that which is good, persons and things: seek the "summum bonnum", "the chief good", God, who is essentially, perfectly, immutably, and commu”
- Jeremiah (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Jeremiah 29:13: And ye shall seek me, and find me,.... When persons seek the Lord aright, they always find him; a God hearing prayer; a God in Christ; bestowing favours upon them; granting them his presence; indulging them in communion with him; and favouring them with fresh supplies of his grace, and everything needful for them; every mercy, temporal and spiritual; that is, when they seek him in Christ, who is the only way to the Father, under the guidance and influence of the blessed Spirit; in the exercise of faith upon him and his promises; with fervency of spirit and ardour o”
- Romans (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good,.... There is a temporal good, and a spiritual good, and an eternal one. Temporal good is what the men of the world are seeking after, and generally have the greatest share of, and the saints the least; and yet they have as much as is needful for them, and what they have, they have with a blessing; and even sometimes afflictions work for the temporal good of God's children: spiritual good lies in a lively exercise of grace and a conformity of the soul to God; and is what the men of the world least regard, and the sain”
- Acts (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Acts 17:27: That they should seek the Lord,.... Or "God", as the Alexandrian copy and others, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read; their Creator, and kind Benefactor, and who has appointed their time of life, and their habitations for them; and this should engage them to seek to know him, who has done all this for them, and to fear and serve him, and to glorify his name: if haply they might feel after him, and find him; which shows, that though it is possible for men, by a contemplation of the perfections of God, visible in the works of creation and provide”
- 1 Thessalonians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Thessalonians 5:17: In everything give thanks,.... That is, to God the Father, in the name of Christ; see Eph 5:20 thanks are to be given to him for all things, as the Ethiopic version renders it; for all temporal good things; for our beings, the preservation of them; for food and raiment, and all the mercies of life; for the means of grace, the word and ordinances, and the ministers of the Gospel; for spiritual blessings, for electing, redeeming, regenerating, adopting, pardoning, justifying, and persevering grace: for a meetness for heaven, a right unto it, and a good hope of ”
- Psalms (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Psalms 34:8: O taste, and see that the Lord is good,.... He is essentially, infinitely, perfectly, immutably, and solely good in himself; and he is communicatively and diffusively good to others: he is the author of all good, but not of any evil, in a moral sense; this chiefly regards his special grace and goodness through Christ: all the divine Persons in the Godhead are good; the Father is good, he has good designs towards his people, has provided good things for them, made good promises to them, and bestows good gifts on them: the Son is good; the good Shepherd that has laid do”
- Revelation (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Revelation 2:2: I know thy works - For the eyes of the Lord are throughout the earth, beholding the evil and the good; and, being omnipresent, all things are continually open and naked before him. It is worthy of remark, that whatsoever is praiseworthy in any of these Churches is first mentioned; thereby intimating that God is more intent on finding out the good than the evil in any person or Church; and that those who wish to reform such as have fallen or are not making sufficient advances in the Divine life, should take occasion, from the good which yet remains, to encourage t”