Perhaps you find yourself in a different situation. You may have been a believer for many years; you already enjoy the eternal blessing of salvation, you know you are going to heaven, and you have tasted the goodness of the Lord in certain areas. God be praised! But wouldn’t you like to go further in your walk with Him, to be bolder and more audacious in your faith?

Remember all the times when the Lord called you to do something new, in order to bring about a change in your life. Like Peter, you heard the Master’s voice calling you to walk on the waters of life to rise up in Him. You heard Him say, “Come.” You wanted to leave your comfort zone to walk on water… but you didn’t. Fear stopped you. You saw the wind and the waves stirring the circumstances of your life. Timidity made you hesitate. If that’s the case, don’t accept guilt. On the contrary, allow the truths contained in this book to strengthen your faith. Let them inspire you to study the Word and discover how good God is. Fill your heart with this goodness, and your confidence will increase, knowing that not only can you trust Him for your eternal salvation, but also for every area of your life.

As long as you are wary of God’s intentions and His goodness, your faith will not grow because fear will deter you. You will constantly hesitate: “What if He doesn’t keep His promises? What if He doesn’t listen to me? What if what He asks of me will make me suffer?” Once your heart is fully convinced of God’s goodness, you will no longer be plagued by such questions. You will be fully assured that He will never harm you. He will never abandon you or let you down. As long as you follow Him, He will always be there to love you, help you, and bless you. You would even be bold enough to walk on water if He asked you to, knowing that His goodness would support you, and you would know that you cannot sink.

God knows what He’s doing

Religious tradition has succeeded in persuading believers that they cannot rely on God’s goodness. Religion teaches that one day or another, God might allow you to fall ill; the next day, He might even decide to make you live in poverty. Some preachers also profess that God uses sickness and poverty as instruments of blessing. But this religious tradition contradicts God’s written Word. God does not confuse good and evil. He knows the definitions of blessing and curse; they are the same as ours (because He transmitted them to us).

We can read in Deuteronomy 28 the descriptions of blessings and curses, as He communicated them to the people of Israel. Verses 11 to 13 summarize these blessings:

“The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you. The Lord will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. The Lord will make you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them.” Deuteronomy 28:11-13

A little further in the same chapter, the Lord defines as curses all kinds of diseases, ailments, and deficiencies that He mentioned. He summarizes all the detestable nature of the curse as follows:

“Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread, with no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel and the sights that your eyes shall see.” Deuteronomy 28:66-67

Clearly, He distinguishes what is good for us from what is not. He knows that it is good for us that all our essential needs are provided for. He knows that if we sow, it is good to reap a great harvest. He knows that if we have livestock, it is good for the herd to increase. He knows it is good for our children to be blessed and for us to be in good physical health. On the other hand, He is well aware that it is not good for us to be sick, poor, filled with fear, and downcast.

In fact, in Hebrew, the word “shalom” used so often by the Lord to bless His people expresses completeness – of spirit, soul, and body. It means: no need, no disaster. God knows that this is the normal order of things, He wants it this way – not just for some of His children but for each one of them. As Psalm 145:9 declares, “The Lord is good to all.“

You might think that everyone would be thrilled to hear that God is good, yet this truth tends to upset religious people – especially preachers. That’s why when God led me to proclaim His goodness, He warned me about the deniers. Historically, those who taught God’s goodness have been terribly persecuted.

In the 1940s, when Oral Roberts began preaching God’s goodness, he faced criticism from members of his own denomination. Some argued that it was too good to be true! One preacher confided to a colleague, “It drives me crazy when Oral Roberts says that God is good.” His interlocutor replied, “What would you prefer him to say: that God is evil?”

“No,” replied the first, “but people will get the wrong idea about God.”

It was that man who was mistaken about God, not Oral Roberts!

These religious leaders couldn’t bear this message because, in truth, for years, their sermons asserted that God used sickness, poverty, and suffering to teach us, that’s the real reason for their opposition. They had polished messages proclaiming that God is the source of all our problems: He glorifies in our illnesses. (What madness! When one of our children is sick, we derive no glory from it, and neither does God. Such an idea is an insult, a blasphemy against Him).

When Oral Roberts proclaimed God’s goodness, these preachers slandered him because this truth undermined their favorite sermons. No contemporary servant of God has been so severely discredited!

One day, as Oral was preaching under a tent, the pastor of the largest church in the area openly criticized him on the radio. He warned his listeners and advised them not to approach Oral Roberts’ meeting place. The public ignored his advice. The more they heard that pastor criticize Oral Roberts and his message of healing, the more they attended the meetings, hoping to be healed.

Eventually, about ten thousand people attended these gatherings. It turned out that none of them were offended by the message announcing divine goodness; they discovered that God had good things in store for them; they accepted the message. Consequently, many were saved, healed, and delivered.

This text is an excerpt from the book “Blessed Beyond Measure” written by Gloria COPELAND.

We invite you to read the following article “Understanding the Goodness of God: The Basis of Faith“.

Entrust your life to Him