Is God Mean or Good?

This past Sunday, Psalm 78:1–7 was read. During the reading, I was struck by the first four verses:

Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

Asaph exhorts God’s people to contemplate the dark sayings he will be teaching throughout the psalm, but the teaching is of God’s paternal care for His children. He narrates the history without sidestepping any negative issues or intentions of the people, for example:

And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God. (Ps 78:8)

These deeds and commands of God are to be told to our children, so they can also live faithfully before Him. But there is no cover for sin amongst the people of God as they are disciplined severely for wandering away. God can be mean.

Earlier today, a Facebook acquaintance posted that the best argument against God’s goodness is the problem of evil/pain. I told him that he only needed to look at the cross of Christ to see that God’s goodness is actually demonstrated in this most evil, painful deed. And later, I noticed in a more full reading of Psalm 78 that evil/pain can work for good.

When He slew them, then they sought Him;
And they returned and sought earnestly for God.
Then they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer. (Ps 78:34–35)

Notice that the calamities and the slayings brought upon Israel were designed to draw mankind unto Himself. Yes, the turning was short-lived, yet the slaying of the obstinate was just and turned the people to righteousness, though only for awhile.

Is God good? Absolutely. He gives us our very breath and daily sustenance. Is God mean, even cruel? He can appear so, but works the circumstance to good for those who love Him. Those who turn away have no such promise, but are are left to continue aimlessly until they might hear the word of God and believe.

God's Unfathomable Goodness

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  (Rom 3:22-25)

And here pious Christian hearts justly ought to consider the unspeakable goodness of God, that God does not immediately cast from Himself into hell-fire this corrupt, perverted, sinful material, but forms and makes from it the present human nature, which is lamentably corrupted by sin, in order that He may cleanse it from all sin, sanctify, and save it by His dear Son.

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration I.39

Quieting Fear in the Sinner; Inciting Fear in the Righteous

The Lᴏʀᴅ is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
    he also hears their cry and saves them.
The Lᴏʀᴅ preserves all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.  (Ps 145:18-20)

If [God] frightens the sinner and the person who is remaining in his sins, he carries him into despair and rejection of hope.  But if he blesses the righteous man, he weakens the intensity of his virtue and causes him to be neglectful of zeal as one who has already been blessed.  For this reason he has mercy on the sinner, but frightens the righteous man.  “He is fearful,” [scripture] says, “to all around him,”* and “The Lord is good to all.”†  “He is fearful,” [scripture] says, “to all around him,” and who would these be but the saints?  “For God,” David says, “who is glorified in the counsel of saints, is great and fearful to all around him.”  If he sees someone fallen, he extends a hand of kindness.  If he sees someone standing, he applies fear.  This, too, belongs to righteous judgment.  For he causes the righteous man to stand fast through fear, and raises up the sinner through kindness.  And do you want to learn of his timely goodness and severity that is useful and suited to us?  Pay careful attention in order that the greatness of the thought may not escape your notice.… He says to sinners, “If your sins are like scarlet, I will make [them] white as snow.”‡  And he changes the darkness into light by the change of repentance, and puts an end to so great an abundance of evils by the voice of his goodness.  To the man who walks in righteousness he says, “Whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool!,’ is liable to the hell of fire.”§  He applies such severity to one word, and measures out so much liberality to so many sins.

Severian of Gabala, On Repentance and Contrition, II.13

*  Psalm 89:7
†  Psalm 145:9

‡  Isaiah 1:18
§  Matthew 5:22

Christ's Unfathomable Goodness Surpassed My Wretchedness

They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.  (Psalm 145:7)

For when we had been created by God the Father, and had received from Him all manner of good, the devil came and led us into disobedience, sin, death, and all evil, so that we fell under His wrath and displeasure and were doomed to eternal damnation, as we had merited and deserved.  There was no counsel, help, or comfort until this only and eternal Son of God in His unfathomable goodness had compassion upon our misery and wretchedness, and came from heaven to help us.  Those tyrants and jailers, then, are all expelled now, and in their place has come Jesus Christ, Lord of life, righteousness, every blessing, and salvation, and has delivered us poor lost men from the jaws of hell, has won us, made us free, and brought us again into the favor and grace of the Father, and has taken us as His own property under His shelter and protection, that He may govern us by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness.

Large Catechism: Apostles' Creed, II.28-30

Praise Communicates God's Goodness

God does not need us to flatter him, but he does want us to tell others about his goodness, so that they too will put their trust in him and enjoy his good gifts.  And that is what we do when we praise him in songs that proclaim his goodness.  In fact, most psalms of praise do just that.  They do not address the Lord, but address the congregation and anyone else who cares to listen.  They sing about God and his goodness.  These psalms have three main parts to them.  First, they name the Lord and announce his presence in the divine service.  Second, they praise his goodness and speak about the good things that he has done.  Third, they invite their hearers to join with his people in receiving his gifts and praising him for his generosity.

John W Kleinig, "What's the Use of Praising God?" Lutheran Theological Journal 38/2 (2004)

John Chrysostom on the Goodness of God to Man

In place of temporal toil he honored us with eternal life.  In place of thorns and thistles he prepared the fruit of the Spirit to grow in our souls.  Nothing was more insignificant than man, and nothing became more honored than man.  He was the last item of the reasonable creation.  But the feet became the head, and by means of the firstfruits, were raised to the royal throne.  For just as some generous and opulent man who has seen someone escape from shipwreck and only able to save his bare body from the waves, cradles him in his hands, and casts about him a bright garment, and conducts him to the highest honors; so also God has done in the case of our nature.  Man cast aside all that he had, his right to speak freely, his communion with God, his sojourn in Paradise, his unclouded life, and as from a shipwreck, went forth bare.  But God received him and straightway clothed him, and taking him by the hand gradually conducted him to heaven.  And yet the shipwreck was quite unpardonable.  For this tempest was due entirely not to the force of the winds, but to the carelessness of the sailor.

And yet God did not look at this, but had compassion for the magnitude of the calamity, and him who had suffered shipwreck in harbor, he received as lovingly as if he had undergone this in the midst of the open sea.  For to fall in Paradise is to undergo shipwreck in harbor.  Why so?  Because when no sadness, or care, or labors, or toil, or countless waves of desire assaulted our nature, it was upset and it fell.  And as the miscreants who sail the sea, often bore through the ship with a small iron tool, and let in the whole sea to the ship from below; so accordingly then, when the Devil saw the ship of Adam, that is his soul, full of many good things, he came and bored it through with his mere voice, as with some small iron tool, and emptied him of all his wealth and sank the ship itself.  But God made the gain greater than the loss, and brought our nature to the royal throne.  Wherefore Paul cries out and says, “He raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him, on his right hand in the heavenly places, that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness towards us.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, 9:179

Be Good!

I was thinking about what I might pass along to a young couple getting married. What might encourage them in their married lives? I did not want to be typical or trite. Marriage is far too important for such things. Then it came to me: Be good! Now that certainly does not sound as romantic as "Love each other" or as enduring as "Remain faithful," but it has importance.

Usually, when someone says to be good, it is meant as an admonition to not misbehave or embarrass, but rather keep a respectable deportment in a situation. It is the least expectation. Society does the same with peace by referring to a lack of open conflict. From a scriptural viewpoint, the true meaning goes much further.

In Exodus 33:18, Moses asked God to show his glory. God responded by promising to cause all His goodness to pass before Moses (33:19). See the picture? The glory is reflected in goodness. And what comprises that goodness? It is listed in Exodus 34:6-7:

Merciful
Gracious
Slow to anger
Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness
Forgiving
Just

God tells Moses what it means to be good and do good by describing Himself. With these as a regular part of the marriage, blessing should be inevitable. Through it the couple demonstrates the glory that is there as God intended in the marriage union.