"The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You" (Ps. 9:9–10).

If you know who God is, you will have confidence in Him even during the most difficult and daunting days of life. If you do not know who He is, you will be unable to put your full trust and faith in Him.

God's name is defined in the ancient Hebrew as His character plus His reputation. There are many, many people who, although they have cried out "Oh God!" while going through a trial or tragedy in life, simply do not know His character or His reputation. Although they call on His name, they have no idea who He truly is.

The primary venue from which we are able to discern the nature and the name of God is the Bible. One must thoroughly study the Word of God and determine what the Bible says about our eternal Father.

"Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good; for His mercy endures forever" (Jer. 33:11b).

The 4-letter word "good" might seem at first glance a fairly boring adjective to describe God, the Creator of the universe.

Why does the Bible, the most complete and true Book of all time, merely describe God as the ever boring "good"? God is the most creative genius in all of recorded eternity! God gloriously created giraffes, centipedes, canyons and orchids. He designed Niagara Falls and the Sahara Desert. He engineered hyenas and diamonds. God is so much more than good!

"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; and He knows those who take refuge in Him" (Nah. 1:7).

All other superlatives that might be used to describe God come after the foundational word "good." If God is not good, then He is not powerful, nor is He faithful. If God is not good, then He could never be our healer or our provider. If God is not good—all the time—then it is impossible to trust Him or to pray to Him. God's goodness is the source from which His character and His reputation are birthed, and all other divine attributes are built upon the foundation of God's eternal and perpetual goodness.

"I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; I have no good besides You'" (Ps. 16:2, AMP).

God is good totally, absolutely and unconditionally. There is no bad in God, and there never will be anything less than ultimate good in Him. God longs to heal you and not to hurt you. God's plan for your life is to mend you and not to break you. He longs for His goodness to seep into the crevices of every day of your ordinary but miraculous existence.

God is the greatest good that exists and is the source of all lesser goods. Anything good that is experienced on Earth was birthed in God's heart and because of His eternal goodness. Creation was spoken into existence because God is good. Music was conceived in the good heart of Father God himself. The gift of family was given to humanity because God saw that it was not good that man should be alone.

The Psalmist was declaring resounding, irrefutable and eternal truth to all generations when he stated: "I have no good besides You, [O Lord]" (Ps. 16:2).

Everything good that we experience during life on Earth is conceived in the goodness of God the Father. There is nowhere else for goodness to possibly generate than from the author and creator of goodness himself, God.

There is nothing good that exists that has not directly had its conception in the heart of God, who is good all the time. God is the final standard of all that is good; everything that God is and does is worthy of our human approval. It is impossible for God to be anything if He is not that attribute completely. If God is, indeed, good—and He is—then He is infinitely, perpetually, boundlessly and altogether good.

God's infinite goodness toward you never changes, nor does it ever diminish, nor does it ever waver. His goodness is always at full-throttle because we serve a God who is enthusiastically good!

God's first recorded opinion was that light was good and that land was good. He declared in the first few hours of creation that trees, flowers and asparagus were all good. God smiled as He spoke of the goodness of the sun, the moon and the stars of every galaxy. God was unable to hold back His assessment as He stated that shrimp, humpbacked whales and salmon were all good. God earnestly announced that mice, rhinoceroses and cheetahs were all amazingly good! God's creation was good simply because He created it. God is unable to create anything that is not good because He is the source of all goodness.

God's mercy is His goodness to those in distress, and His grace is His goodness toward those who deserve to be punished. God's patience is His goodness to those who continue to sin time after time, and His healing power is His goodness to those who are sick. God's forgiveness is His goodness to those who have miserably failed or chosen poorly.

God's goodness is never exclusive and reaches toward every human heart. God's goodness is what makes life in the war zone of Planet Earth extraordinary. God is good in every way at every time. God is good ... He does good ... and He works all things together for good.

Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. Carol has written 11 books, including Significant, StormProof and Guide Your Mind, Guard Your Heart, Grace Your Tongue. Her teaching DVD, The Rooms of a Woman's Heart won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming.'

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