Is God Worthy of Trust: Internal Consistency, Part 2

I don’t know much about cars; in fact I am sure that I know almost nothing. It was only just recently, after driving for several years, that I had the “pleasure” of learning how to change a tire (something every man should know how to do). But one thing I do know is that to jump-start a car you need both a positive charge and a negative charge. The opposite charges are necessary. In the last chapter we looked that the negative side of God’s Internal Consistency, that is His inability to lie. In this chapter I want to turn to the positive aspect of His goodness. To jump-start our trust in God we need both the negative charge and positive charge. For if we suppose that simply a knowledge that God can’t lie is sufficient, then our trust will remain a dead battery, but with the extra charge that God’s internal consistency contains also His goodness, then our engines of faith will roar loud with assurance.

The Bible teaches us that God’s nature is goodness. Jesus said as much to the rich man in Matthew 9:17, “…There is only one who is good.” James tells us that “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…” The Psalms in particular echo the praise that God is good:

Psalm 100:5 5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 106:1 Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 118:1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 118:29 29 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 119:68 You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.

Psalm 135:3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant!

Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

God’s very nature is to be good. But this language may be misleading. We must qualify it more specifically. It is not simply that God’s nature is good, as though there is some external standard by which we can judge God’s nature and compare it and classify it as “good.” This would be blasphemous. Rather, we must understand that God is the very standard of goodness. Anything we would judge as “good,” must be so because it reflects the very nature of God. Now let’s give our faith that positive charge by looking more specifically at what it means for God to be good.

The Bible doesn’t tell us in specific language what God’s goodness is, but rather it tells us through describing what God does. The Bible does this on many occasions; so Michael Horton writes, “The triune God is known in His works, not in His essence.”[1] It would be helpful then, if this is how God’s goodness is to be known, that we look at a particular passage that demonstrates it. Psalm 107 is a beautiful Psalm depicting plainly the goodness of God towards His people.

The Psalm opens with a command:

Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

In this first verse we are presented with a glimpse of the character of God, “He is good.” The Psalmist, however, goes on to spell out just what that goodness looks like: “His steadfast love endures forever.” So God’s goodness involves a love, and a steadfast love, and a steadfast love that endures forever. Furthermore, and this point will be elaborated more fully later, God’s goodness involves redeeming a people from trouble, and a gathering a people of various ethnicities. But in noting also the state of the people whom God redeems we see a more beautiful picture of His goodness displayed. So the Psalmist describes mankind in general as thus:

Psalm 107:4-43 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; 5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. 6 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. 8 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. 10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. 15 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron. 17 Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; 18 they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. 21 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy! 23 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; 24 they saw the deeds of the LORD, his wondrous works in the deep. 25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. 26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; 27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits' end. 28 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. 31 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. 33 He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, 34 a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants. 35 He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. 36 And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; 37 they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. 38 By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish. 39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, 40 he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; 41 but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks. 42 The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth. 43 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

There is a pattern to this Psalm, as there are to many. The Psalmist explains God’s good acts in rescuing, helping, and showing mercy to various peoples in different, though all dire, circumstances, and then he charges the recipients of this grace to thank the Lord. He speaks first of those who “wander in desert wastes”. These are folks lost and abandoned, they are “hungry and thirsty,” and their “soul fainted within them.” There is an obvious illusion to the Israelites coming out of Egypt here. The reference to the Exodus, however, does not negate the application to us. We may not all be wandering in a physical desert, hungry and thirsty, but such is a fitting description of our depressions, and struggles. But just as there is good news for the Israelites, that God heard their cries and brought them into a city to dwell, so there is good news for all His people. The passage continues noting that God “Satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul He fills with good things.” This is a good act of God.

The word “good,” itself, is used in this passage twice. Once to describe the very nature of whom God is, “He is good,” and once to describe what He gives, “good things.” But the word itself need not be found in every phrase for us to recognize the whole account here as a working out of God’s goodness. God not only leads and feeds a wandering people, but he frees prisoners, He heals the distressed who were near the gate of death, and He delivered them from their destruction. Furthermore God calmed a raging storm and brought sailors to their desired haven, and He turns deserts into springs of water, deserts into pools, and He raises up the needy out of affliction.

This is a good God, and we may rightly apply this to our present situations. The Psalms speak in poetic language and while there is a literal level, these verses also indicate that the language speaks beyond actual prisoners and actual sailors, and so forth. It speaks to all of us who go through emotional, physical, and spiritual distresses daily. It declares that God is good, and does good for us. Note, however, that sometimes what is good is for us to be brought low. V. 12 states of those who had rebelled against God that He “bowed their hearts down with hard labor.” This would not seem good to us, but look at what it leads to. Though they “fell down with none to help,” the text tells us that they “cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.” Deliverance comes only after depression.

Of course the ultimate point of this text is not that God delivers from emotional or physical distress, which He sometimes does in this life and sometimes does not. Rather the main point is that God is good because He “redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands.” God’s goodness is found ultimately in the worst place in the history of the world, at the cross. God’s goodness is seen in His sending Jesus Christ to bear the punishment for our sins. This is consistent with who God is. God is good and we know that because He displays His character in what He does. Our definition of good, our morality, human ethics, declares what is good, not because it acknowledges some abstract notion, but because God’s nature is revealed to us in both creation and in the Bible. Our knowledge of good is partly a knowledge of God.

God’s internal consistency permits us more freedom to trust Him. When we know not only that God cannot lie, but that this inability to lie is met with a desire to display His nature as a good God to His people. God’s goodness is just that positive charge we need to jump-start our faith and trust. Trust in God, for He is good, and His steadfast love endures forever.


[1] Michael Horton, Lord and Servant: A Covenant Christology. (Louisville: WJK, 2005). 22.