Verse: Psalm 136:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
Devotion
How do you think of God? We all build “mental maps” of how God is based on Scripture, our upbringing, our experience, and even our relationships with our parents. A portion of discipleship with Jesus is weighing our mental maps about God against the God revealed to us in Scripture. Often we will find that we need, through prayer, study and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to adjust our mental maps.
When you think of God, do you think of him as Good? Repeatedly in the Old Testament we are told that he is good. James reminds us that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). God is good, and he’s not changing that! And even Jesus tells us that “No one is good—except God alone” (Mark 10:18).
The truth, as revealed to us by Jesus and through His Word, is that God is Good. So where we feel, or think, that God is anything but good, our mental maps need adjusting by the power of His Spirit. Do we see God as a distant God? An angry God? A disappointed God? A God we never measure up to? A God who wants to hurt us? We (sometimes unconsciously) adopt these views of God based on past hurt or experience, and then we live our lives as if they are true.
Maybe today God can begin to chip away at our faulty mental maps. Maybe we can begin to relearn the Truth of God that he is Good and that his Love endures forever. This is the true God. And this revelation of God brings such deep comfort and joy. To know that God is fully and only good. And to learn to “trust that what God wants for me is only my deepest happiness” as Ignatius of Loyola said. Then we can truly rest in Him, regardless of our circumstances, trusting him with our past, our present, and our future.
Prayer
Show me that you are good, Lord. Where I am believing faulty images of you, gently bring correction to my heart.
Author: Christian Dunn
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