God is good - What does that mean?

God Himself is the standard and the measure of what is good: "No one is good except
God alone" (Luke 18:19). All that is in God is good: "God is light, and in him is
no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). God's nature is good and He cannot do anything
that would contradict who He is. God is good and all He does is good (Psalm
119:68). He is holy, true, and faithful in all of His ways, desiring to make good
out of all situations (see Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28).

When God created the universe, each individual part that He created was good
(Genesis 1:4–31; 1 Timothy 4:4). He did not create evil, because evil is the
absence of all that is good. God does not get tempted to sin, nor does He tempt us
to sin (James 1:13). God gave the Law to the Israelites and it was good (Romans
7:12). The only good that we have in this world is a gift from God: "Every good and
perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17).

The Lord is good to us (Psalm 107:1; 145:9). He forgives us (Psalm 86:5); He heals
us (Psalm 30:2; 107:19–21); He upholds us through difficult times (Isaiah 41:10).
He is faithful and loving: "For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures
forever, and his faithfulness to all generations" (Psalm 100:5).

Our response to God's goodness should be thankfulness (1 Chronicles 16:34), but our
natural human inclination is toward living for ourselves, forgetting God's goodness
(Psalm 78:11), and loving darkness and evil (John 3:19). The pinnacle of God's
goodness is in His perfect plan for our redemption through Jesus Christ. The gospel
is known as "good news" because it tells the story of God sending His Son to offer
us eternal forgiveness for our sins. It is the goodness of God that leads us to
repentance: "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance" (Romans 2:4). He
desires for "everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9, NIV).

As we walk with God we will begin to see His goodness operating through our lives,
because goodness is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23). As we continue
seeking Him, He continues revealing more of His goodness to us (Lamentations 3:25).
Once we have tasted and seen of God's goodness for ourselves, nothing else will
satisfy us (Psalm 34:8).