Evidence of His Goodness

I have been loving the weather we're having lately. We are in that sweet transition into fall, yet we have those few days a week that are sunny and warm. I have been trying to find a new trail or place to walk every week, if not a couple, different ones every week. On these walks, I am trying to be more attentive to the surroundings and how God has created them each uniquely. Our state is beautiful and we are lucky to live in it. It is easy to see the goodness of God physically, we see the sunsets and sunrises, the stars which He has numbered, all the people He knows by name.

Yesterday, I got to witness some people be baptized. Every time I watch a baptism is just as special as the last. A moment to rejoice in the outward expression of someone's inward feeling. Celebrating a fellow believer stepping out in their faith to declare they have been made new by Jesus Christ. That's His goodness. That's the evidence of it.

The evidence of God's goodness is all around us. It is in the sweet iced coffee on a Monday morning. It's in the smile of a stranger. The encouragement of a friend. The twinkling of Christmas lights, the colors of autumn, the coziness you feel when you put on your favorite sweater. It's simple and pure and beautiful and all around us.

Psalms is full of passages of scripture telling us about the goodness of God. A couple of my favorites are:

Psalm 107:1 "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever."

Psalm 119:68 " Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes."

We know God is good, therefore we should praise Him for it. He is merciful. He does good. We should want to learn to be good, just as He is. Mark 10:18 says nobody but the One, True God, is good.

He is good because He woke us up this morning. He has a plan for us. He is a deliverer. He keeps His promises. He is loving and kind. He is Creator. He sent His only Son for us. He made a way and still is. He is still saving people. He is still working miracles. He is still answering prayers. He is trustworthy. He is a friend. He is a provider. He is everything we will ever need and more. He is faithful.

If you are familiar with the song "Evidence" by Josh Baldwin, you know the chorus says " I see the evidence of Your goodness all over my life." And while I think this song is beautiful and captures my heart a lot of days, I was only taking it in through a physical lense for a long time. I was seeing the evidence of God's goodness in all the things I was being provided, physically. I was seeing the Creation He has made. Which are all good things, but what is also evident is the change He is making in us spiritually. The working He is doing behind the scenes. His goodness is in the peace you have, the bitterness you released, the forgiveness, joy, growth, all these things too. God is fulfilling so many promises and prayers in our lives in so many ways every day. All the things that seem like little "givens" are prayers being answered, scripture fulfilled and promises kept.

I have been participating in a Bible study recently that has been talking about how many promises God fulfilled to have Jesus come to Earth. There are a lot of them. And He fulfilled more promises about more things, too. The birth of Jesus was no surprise. So many things had to be accomplished to bring us to a baby in a manger; I encourage you to look into it. God had a plan from the very beginning, while the evidence might not have been easy to see in the things that felt like major letdowns in the Old Testament, they were check marks on the list of "to-dos" to prepare for Jesus to come to Earth, and that was evidence of His goodness.

So, no matter what is going on in your life- whether it feels like one letdown after another, or it is pretty stinkin' evident to you that He is working, He is good. I promise you, the evidence is there. It's all around; we just have to be willing to seek it.