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7 Famous Bible Verses About God’s Goodness

Here are seven powerful Bible verses about God’s goodness.

Exodus 34:6-7a “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”

When God was carving out the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, He gave them to Moses to take to the children of Israel, but then, “The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord” (Ex 34:5). Try to imagine being in Moses’ sandals and seeing the “cloud” of the Lord descend, likely the Shekinah cloud of the glory of God, and then not falling on your face. The Lord Himself descends and proclaims His own name, and tells Moses that He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in His steadfast (or unchanging) love and faithfulness. This is all about the goodness of God because He is merciful to forgive us of our “iniquity and transgressions and sin.” Since God does not change, He is still merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounds in His steadfast love for those who have trusted in Christ.

Matthew 7:11 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Jesus is speaking to His disciples in the context of praying to God by asking, seeking, and knocking (Matt 7:7-8), and since even a human father knows better than to give his own child “a serpent…if he asks for a fish” (Matt 7:10), how infinitely greater is our heavenly Father Who will “give good things to those who ask him?” God is good to answer our prayers but it’s up to us to ask, then seek God’s will, and finally, knock on every door of opportunity that you come to. While there are a lot of good human fathers out there and who do much good, even they (and I) fall short. Only God “knows how to give good gifts to” His children because there is only One Good and Perfect Father Who is in heaven.

Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Have you ever just thanked God for His goodness? We know that God is merciful, gracious, patient, longsuffering, is slow to anger, and forgives us of all of our sins (1st John 1:9), and these are the very essence of His goodness. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “God is good…all the time,” and that’s consistent with Scripture. He is good to grant repentance (2nd Tim2:24-25), and then purchase us by His own blood (1st Cor 6:19-20, 7:23), so that we might “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” What an awesome God we serve!

Exodus 33:19 “And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

Moses had such an intimate relationship with God, and one that we should all aspire too, that “the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11), and the Lord said to Moses, “ you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name” (Ex 33:17). Since Moses knew that he and God had such an intimate relationship as this, Moses asked, “Please show me your glory” (Ex 33:18). Wouldn’t you want to see God too? I know I would, so God’s answer is given (above) in Exodus 33:19), however God told Moses, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33:20). That will all change someday (Rev 21:3, 21:4).

2 Chronicles 30:9 “For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

The context of this verse about the goodness of God is in 2nd Chronicles chapter 30 where Israel and Judah both “should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel” (2nd Chron 30:1), but the intent of keeping the Passover of the Lord was a plea for them to “return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria” (2nd Chron 30:6). God is warning them, through the King Hezekiah’s pronouncement, to turn back to God so that they won’t also be taken captive like Israel was by the Assyrians. God is good but God expects obedience too. The use of the word “turn” in the Hebrews (shuwb) is as close to repentance as you can get because it means “to turn back, to return,” or “go back.” That’s also the goodness of God because He warns them and “is gracious and merciful,” giving them a chance to repent, or turn back to Him in obedience.

Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

Ancient Israel knew how important a shield might be as they had to rid the Promised Land of the pagan nations there, but God is also referred to as a sun, and without sunshine, there would be no Promised Land…in fact, there’d be life. That’s essentially how vital God is to us. We need Him for our physical life, but God is so good that He “bestows favor and honor,” and promises that “No good thing” will He “withhold from those who walk uprightly.” By living in obedience, God promises that He won’t keep any good thing from us, and in His goodness, that means life (sun) and protection (shield).

Mark 10:18 “And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”

This verse might be a bit confusing to some people, and even a few cults claim this verse as evidence that Jesus was not fully God because Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone,” however we must look at the entire context. The rich young man didn’t know Who Jesus really was because He only called Him “good teacher.” If he knew Who Jesus really was, He would have called Him Lord or Master. That explains why Jesus says, “No one is good except God alone.”

Conclusion

Don’t you have the passionate desire to see Jesus for the very first time, thereby seeing God for the first time? I know I have the desperate desire to see the Lord Jesus Christ in Person, and fall at His feet and weep and worship Him. If there be any crown I have, I will cast it at the feet of Whom all authority abides. The King of kings and Lord of lords of glory will finally be with us! Like Moses saw God’s glory cloud and even saw the backside of God as He was passing by in the clefts of the rock, but with God’s hand to shield Moses for his own protection (Ex 33:20), someday, we will actually see God face to face and not be incinerated (Rev 21:3), and we will be present with the Lord (Rev 21:4) forever. That is the ultimate goodness of God for those who were anything but good (Rom 3:11-12). Right now, no man (or woman) can see God and live…unless they have been born again and have now entered the kingdom of heaven.

Here are some more verses for you: Bible Verses About God’s Favor

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This article was first published at WhatChristiansWantToKnow.com

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