I’ve heard and read a lot of God’s attributes and characteristics like God is love, merciful, a refuge, a strong tower, great, glorious, faithful and many many more things. I’m sure you’ve heard many of these things too. But what if you were to narrow it down to just one word? God is…?
Just recently I finished reading The Rational Bible – Exodus by Dennis Prager which I found to be a very enjoyable and enlightening commentary on this section of the bible. There are many explanations and essays on virtually every verse and generally very thought provoking, a worth while read.
While much of the book was quite profound and revelatory one particular essay stood out to me in a special way. “Is God Good or is God Love?
At this point I’m going to excerpt the book a fair bit but I’d recommend reading the entire thing.
The essay comes from Exodus 33:18 where Mosses is on the mountain with God and
Ex 33:18 “He said, “O, let me behold Your Presence!”
Even with all the intimate interactions he’s had with God since the burning bush, Moses yearns to better know God.
Ex 33:19 And He answered, “I will make all My goodness pass before you,”
When Moses asks God to allow him to behold God’s presence – to reveal His essence – what is it that God reveals?
His goodness.
God’s essence is goodness.
Many people say, “God is love.” However, while goodness and love are often related, they can be very different from one another.
Dennis Prager
Good people, by definition, do good – whether or not they happen to have loving feelings.
Dennis Prager
There is quite a bit more to the essay expounding on these thoughts and citing example of why we can believe God is good. Excellent stuff. Now when I hear that phrase “God is good all the time and all the time God is good” I have a much better understanding of that fact.