It
has been said that the journey from the head to the heart is one of a thousand
miles. I wonder how many times I will make that journey as each time another
truth is cemented in my heart. Though I know in my head the attributes of God
and could write you a list a page long; the attributes that I know with my
heart make a much shorter list. I have walked the thousand miles from head to
heart twice to come to truly believe two attributes of the God I love. These
have become cornerstones in my heart, pointing to the work of the Lord and who
I know Him to be beyond any doubt. These two attributes are His goodness and
His faithfulness. I will define
both in light of my experience and then show how they work together in the
heart of the God I love and call Daddy.
I
know God is good, not just sort of good or sometimes good. He is always,
totally, wholly, good in all He is and does and that goodness is directed
towards me. When I asked God to reveal Himself to me and answer my question,
“Do You really care about me, personally?”, He did. Day by day, He spoke to my
heart through the little things: conversations with friends, a song, pictures
in my mind. Until, when I looked back, I could not deny the care and love He
had personally shown me. I grew to know His goodness confidently, intimately,
as the Lord revealed just how much He has my best at heart and that all He
desires for me is good. A. W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy defines
the Lord’s goodness not as His holiness or righteousness, but rather His
goodness is that force from within Himself and of Himself that causes Him to be
kind, gentle, loving, merciful, benevolent, gracious to us (Tozer, 82). “By His
nature (i.e. because of His goodness)
. . . He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.” (Tozer, 82). Somewhere in the Bible it says that
those who come to the Lord, must believe He is good and a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him. If we do not believe Him to be good, how will we ever
learn to trust Him? Thus He leads us on the thousand mile journey from head to
heart, from intellectually grasping He is good, to knowing by experience that
He is good.
The
Psalms proclaim over and over again the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 68:10 says
that in His goodness, He provides for the poor. It was the promise of seeing
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living that caused David to not
despair in Psalm 27:13. “Good and upright is the Lord”, declares Psalm 25:8a.
And Psalm 106, 107, 118, and 136 all say “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is
good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” When a would-be disciple
addressed Jesus as “Good Teacher”, Jesus responded by saying “Why do you call
me good? No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18). In my life, I have
tasted and seen – through experiences such as I mentioned above – that God
alone is good and His heart towards me is only good. This summer when I was
dissatisfied with my job, frustrated with living at home, lonely, and not
wanting to be where I was at in life, I cried my hurt and anger on the shoulder
of a friend. In that raw moment, she spoke these words, “But do you believe
that He is still good?” At first I said, “I don’t know.” Then dialing down into
my heart, I looked into who I knew God was and is, I answered, “Yes, yes I
believe He is still good”. So when life does not go the way I expect it to or
want it to, I know I can declare with David “I would have despaired unless I
had believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living(Psalm
27:13)”, because His goodness is His promise to me.
The
faithfulness of God results from His immutability. A God who does not change,
will be of necessity a faithful God. His faithfulness means that when He speaks
we can have confidence because due to His faithfulness He binds Himself to His own
words. What He speaks will come to pass. The promises He makes will be
fulfilled. Tozer says “Upon God’s faithfulness rests our whole hope of future
blessedness. Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand and His promises
be honored. Only as we have complete assurance that He is faithful may we live
in peace and look forward with assurance to the life to come.” (Tozer, 81) In
the last year, God has taken me on the journey of experiencing His faithfulness.
Ironically, this journey was not completed by promises being fulfilled, thus
proving His faithfulness, but by promises that still remain to see their
fulfillment. It has been through Scriptures and His voice repeatedly speaking
to my heart, “I am faithful; I will fulfill My promises”, that my heart has
gained confidence to stand on the truth of His faithfulness even as desires of
my heart remain unfulfilled. To stand on the faithfulness of God is to stand in
faith and to live in faith.
Though
many passages praises God’s faithfulness, it was a Scripture that indirectly
speaks of God’s faithfulness that took root in my heart as proof of His
faithfulness. Isaiah 55:11 says “So will My word be which goes forth from My
mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and
without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” With this verse, God
stamped His faithfulness upon my heart, saying “If I have spoken it, if I have
promised, I will bring it to pass, for every word I speak accomplishes what I
desire.” 2 Timothy 2:13 was another verse that spoke strongly to me. I know my
own weakness and inability to remain faithful, as the Lord is faithful. But
Paul boldy proclaims that “if we are faithless, He remains faithful for He
cannot deny Himself.” Thus His faithfulness is not conditional, but arises from
within His own heart. In one of the first declarations God makes of Himself, He
states: “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God,
who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His
commandments (Deuteronomy 7:9).” He states His faithfulness, then gives an
example of His faithfulness. Let my heart gain confidence; the One who speaks
is faithful!
If
we know God to be good, then of necessity, He must be faithful. For in His
goodness, He makes promises to His beloved. And in His faithfulness, He keeps
those promises, so as to not suspend the action of His goodness. For how can
that which is essentially good also be a wishy-washy waffler bent at every
change in the wind? When God makes a promise, because of His essential
goodness, we can have confidence that He will be faithful to keep that promise.
He is not like men, who in weakness, lacking either goodness or faithfulness or
both, will make promises only to change them. He does not speak with ulterior
motives, with devious plans, with any imperfection in His heart. When God
speaks, we can have confidence it will be good, and it will be for our greatest
good. When God speaks, we can have confidence that His word will accomplish
every plan He has for it in His timing, even as Isaiah 55:11 declares so
poetically. So God’s goodness presupposes His faithfulness, for He cannot be good
if He is not faithful to who He is in His goodness. His faithfulness
presupposes His goodness; for if He were not good, then He would have no reason
or purpose for being faithful. One without the other is useless and
meaningless. Together they form a part of the God who is all awesome, powerful,
gracious, and loving; the God I have come to call ‘Daddy’.
To
know the goodness of the Lord, I walked the thousand miles in three months. To
know the faithfulness of the Lord, it has been almost a year’s journeying to
walk the thousand miles with Him. But now having walked those miles, I never have
to walk them again. I have experienced His goodness and I have seen His
faithfulness; and all doubt is removed. These are my cornerstones. No matter
what comes, I can look behind me, point to these stones, and boldly declare
“But I know my God is good and I know my God is faithful!” In His goodness, He
is always faithful. And in His faithfulness, He always remains good.
Kendra
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