Our God is Good

Our God is Good
Exodus 34:5-7, Matthew 5:43-48 (Luke 6:27-36), James 1:16-17

In Moses encounter with God, we see an elaborate description of the Father's good nature.

1.
Merciful /rahûm - compassionate/ always used for God. Deuteronomy 4:31, 2 Chronicle 30:9, Nehemiah 9:17, 9:31, Psalm 78:38, 86:15, 103:8, 111:4, 112:4, 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2.

God loves people Psalm 100:3
God fellowships with people. Genesis 3:8
Called Abraham from following idols. Genesis 12:1-3
Jesus says God loves the world, that is people. John 3:16
God cares for people. 1 Peter 5:7
God delivered Israel from Pharaoh and Egypt by creating a dry road in the red sea. Exodus 14:1-31
God gave Israel water making bitter water sweat. Exodus 15:22-27
God fed Israel with food with meat in the wilderness. Numbers 11:4-5, 31-32

2.
Gracious /hannûn - attribute of God in which he attends to the cry of those who call on him/ Exodus 22:27, 34:6, 2 Chronicles 30:9, Nehemiah 9:17, 9:31, Psalm 86:15, 103:8, 111:4, 112:4, 116:5, 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2.

God does not make himself unreachable for people. Proverbs 3:27-28
He is gracious and loves to attend to people.

3.
Longsuffering /arēk - patient, slow to anger/ Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:15, 103:8, 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Nahum 1:3

God's anger is slow because he gives opportunity to repent, not wanting anyone to perish. 2 Peter 3:15, 9
He wants so many people around him. Matthew 18:20
He demonstrated his patience with the Amorites to repent. Genesis 15:12-16
The generation of Noah too, God waiting 100 years. Genesis 6:1-8, 7:1-11

4.
(abundant in) Goodness /hesed - loving kindness/
Full of loving. John 3:16

5.
Truth /ēmet - reliability, faithfulness/
God is reliable.
He is not a man that he should lie or repent. Numbers 23:19
He cannot deny his faithfulness. 2 Timothy 2:13

6.
Forgiving (iniquity, transgression and sin)
While it is true that God judges the guilty, the longsuffering of God and his forgiveness precedes judgement.

This follows the goodness of God taught across the scriptures.
Matthew 5:43-48
To love your enemies, doing good to those who hate you and praying for those who despite fully use you and persecute you, is the way of the Father.

God is kind to the unthankful and evil. Luke 6:27-36
Our good behaviour does affect the influence of the gospel. 1 Timothy 2:9-10, 1 Peter 3:1-6

Jesus forgave all those who participated in his crucifixion including the one who pierced him with a spear. Luke 23:34. Kind to a fault even at the point of death.
Stephen demonstrated the same attitude. Acts 7:54-60

James 1:16-17
Do not err (to be led astray) into thinking that God is unkind doing everything to avoid kindness toward people.
James then teaches "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." This is a description of God's character, no variableness, no turning shadow.

No variableness is from the Greek /parallagē/ meaning fickleness, a transmutation (always changing form), given to erratic changeableness.

God opinion and position on every matter is known. He is not vulnerable to shifting positions. His willingness is demonstrated to be kind to people. Mark 1:40-42

Your opinion of God must derive from his character revealed in his word, not people's differing experiences. So, you give your utmost attention to this, wholly devoted to the understanding that our God is good in order to derive a profit from it. 1 Timothy 4:15

Two examples of God's goodness and faithfulness.
1. God's goodness to Isaac was because of his oath to Abraham, his father. Genesis 26:3-5. It extends to all Israel who will be saved on the account of God's promise to Abraham. Romans 9:27, 11:26

2. Solomon's prayer was to the end that God would keep the oath to David his father. 1 Kings 8:23-25. God kept this oath in Jesus Christ. Acts 2:29-31

The kindness and faithfulness of God is eternal, from age to age, and it is demonstrated to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6-7