The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.

  Lamentations 3:25

God’s willingness to pardon us of all our sin is an incomparable benefit to seeking God but the second benefit has got to rank up there as well. Experiencing the goodness of God comes as a benefit of seeking Him. “The Lord is good to the person who seeks Him.” This is not contingent on our gender, race, ethnicity, social or economic standing, or any other metric that mankind uses to categorize people. The Lord truly is gracious to those who seek Him but remember, seeking Him means desiring God with our whole heart. 

Consider a man who marries a woman and pledges his love and loyalty to her for the rest of his life. After the wedding ceremony, the man begins to plan his social life around the single’s scene. He wants to see just far he can go in this arena and still maintain a good marriage at the same time. Most people would come to same conclusion regarding this man’s level of commitment…it would be non-existent. He can  profess whatever he like but it would be his actions that accurately tell of his true intent. 

Now consider our lives as Christians. A person professes the name of Jesus and claims to be a Christian yet they want to see just how much of the old, worldly behavior they can hold onto and still be in right relationship to God. Obviously, we would have to come to the same conclusion as we did with the man lacking marital loyalty. We can profess anything we want but it is the consistency of our life’s actions that will reveal our true intentions.

Seeking God yields experiencing the goodness of God but this seeking has to be sincere and with our whole heart. Consider the invitation for us to engage in this seeking of God:

O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

          Psalm 34:8

“Taste and see” that the Lord is good. Try Him! This is the invitation of God for anyone who wants to know Him. 

When we talk of God’s goodness, we have to include the fact that He is love (1 John 4:8). And when we speak of agape love, which is the word used in the original language of the New Testament, we need to include three (3) characteristics to this kind of love. 

1. Unconditional Love (Agape) Includes Affection

God’s affection for mankind is demonstrated in the fact that He gave us His Son as a way of accomplishing His mercy and justice at the same time. God provided a way for us to be saved because of His great love and affection for His creation (John 3:16-17). 

2. Unconditional Love (Agape) Includes Goodwill

“God desire for all mankind to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). But this offer of salvation, coming from God’s kindness and goodness, has to be received (Hebrews 4:1-2). We have to respond to God’s goodness by repenting and “calling on the name of the Lord” (Romans 10:13). But to be sure, God’s love includes His tremendous goodwill toward His creation. Goodwill simply means that we desire for good to come to another person. God desires to see us come to faith in Jesus Christ because of His tremendous goodness.

3. Unconditional Love (Agape) Includes Benevolence

Affection is God’s disposition towards mankind. Goodwill is His desire for us. And benevolence is what He was willing to do for us when we could not save ourselves. Having an affinity toward someone and desiring to see good come to them are incomplete unless we are willing to do something about their need. This is the essence of benevolence. God is love and this affection, goodwill, and benevolence all point to the characteristic of His goodness.

Perhaps this is the reason why David could write such poetic words regarding the goodness of God:

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

  Psalm 23:6

This is the legacy for the people of God. We enjoy, as a matter of seeking Him daily, pardon and the very goodness of God!