m2t on May 02, 2016

God is good—absolutely good. It is impossible for Him to do anything bad. The imprint of His goodness lies on all He does. It is evident, for instance, in every step and every stage of the work of creation as recorded in Genesis 1-2.

Out there in space, the vast machinery of the universe pulsated and roared, swirling around the great white throne of God. Countless billions of stars and their satellites were hurrying through intangible space or prodigious orbits at inconceivable velocities and with mathematical precision. God made it all, and it was good. The angels of God around His throne shouted and sand in awe and wonder at this display of omniscient wisdom and omnipotent power.

Somewhere, in the midst of this sublime activity, there swirled a galaxy of some 100 billion stars, a galaxy we call the Milky Way. One of those stars was unique; we call it the Sun. It had gathered around it a solar system of planets. One of those planets we call Earth.

For some reason, barely hinted at in Scripture, this planet was "without form and void," and darkness concealed the face of the deep. It was about to become the platform, however, on which God would stage a demonstration of the fact that He was good as well as great.

"Light be!" He said. And instantly light was. Just like that! Light reigned. And it was good as God is good. The light revealed a chaos of tossing water, a vast and shoreless sea. No land raised its head above the heaving waves and smothering mist. God called for an atmosphere to be formed. At once, two vast oceans appeared, one above and one below, with a far-flung firmament between, a space for clouds to congregate, a playground for weather to have its way. God said that it was good.

But still the rolling seas held restless empire over all the world. God put an instant end to that. The continents arose, towering peaks appeared, and the land threw off the mantle of the sea. And it was good.

Then God brought forth life in countless varieties and forms. The sea swarmed with life. The sky was taken over by birds and other winged creatures. Vegetation threw a garment of green over vast segments of the earth. Forests sprang up everywhere. Creatures great and small grazed the glens and roamed the vast forests of a pristine world. And it was good.

Then God made man, made him in His own image and after His own likeness. He was a creation set apart, able to think and feel and decide, able to speak and sing, able to appreciate beauty, control his environment, rule the world and worship God. And it was good. Everything was good. In fact, it was very good. God said so. And so it was. The word the Holy Spirit uses for "good" means "beautiful. The Holy Spirit used it seven times in telling us the story.

And then God said, "It is not good!" for though Adam was monarch of all he surveyed, though all things were under his feet, though he was indwelt by God, and though he loved God and obeyed God and had daily fellowship with God, he ruled his vast empire alone. It was not good.

So God went to work again. Once day Adam awoke from a deep sleep, and what he saw must have made him think he was still asleep on in a dream! For there she stood, his counterpart, the woman God had especially made for him. And suddenly everything was good. God is good—that as what it all said. Far-flung galaxies, creatures from the seas and skies, all of nature has one song to sing:

How good is the God we adore,
Our faithful unchangeable Friend,
Whose love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end.