The Lord is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
Psalm 145:9
Sometimes people imagine that God is like the little boy sitting over the ant hill with his magnifying glass grinning maniacally as he burns and tortures the little ants and watches them run helplessly for their lives. But this verse proves that that picture of God is a lie.
It says that God is good to all and has compassion on all He has made. He isn’t just good to believers. He isn’t just good to the righteous. He is good to all people. And even beyond that. God isn’t just good to people. God shows His goodness and compassion to all His creation. Matthew Henry put it this way, “[God] is good to all…from the highest angel to the lowest worm.”* Or we might say down to the smallest ant.
Jesus speaks of this common grace of God in the New Testament when He says “God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45) What this verse teaches us is that God is so good that He’s good to everyone! He’s so full of goodness and compassion that they overflow out of Him in abundance and spill over into our lives. Every single one of us has been touched and blessed by the goodness of God.
Perhaps life has been particularly difficult for you lately. Perhaps it has even been difficult for a very long time. You may be tempted to think of God as that little boy over the anthill. You may be tempted to think He is torturing you for His own pleasure. But that isn’t who God is. No matter how hard life has been on you, I can say with confidence that God has been good to you. I can say with confidence that He has compassion for you, because that is who He is. He doesn’t show you compassion or love because you deserve it but simply because it is who He is.
Jesus speaks of this common grace of God in the New Testament when He says “God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45) What this verse teaches us is that God is so good that He’s good to everyone! He’s so full of goodness and compassion that they overflow out of Him in abundance and spill over into our lives. Every single one of us has been touched and blessed by the goodness of God.
Perhaps life has been particularly difficult for you lately. Perhaps it has even been difficult for a very long time. You may be tempted to think of God as that little boy over the anthill. You may be tempted to think He is torturing you for His own pleasure. But that isn’t who God is. No matter how hard life has been on you, I can say with confidence that God has been good to you. I can say with confidence that He has compassion for you, because that is who He is. He doesn’t show you compassion or love because you deserve it but simply because it is who He is.
*Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged. (Hendrickson Publishers) 1991. p948.
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