Enjoying God In All Of Life

In Psalm 145 David is crazy-excited about God’s goodness in his life. He can’t stop praising and enjoying God. It’s because David is constantly recognizing God’s goodness in all of life. Psalm 145:9 says, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” God is constantly being good to ALL of us; those who believe in Him and follow Jesus, and those who openly reject Him. What are some ways that God is being good to all?

God’s Goodness in Beauty
James 1:17 says, “every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the father of lights.” Every time we experience beauty, whether it’s in nature, or in another person, or in something someone has made, that’s an example of God’s grace in this world. I met a pastor once who loved to bird watch. He was captivated by seeing the beauty in these little birds. Even though that doesn’t happen to be my thing, he’s recognizing God goodness in creation. And there are many people just like him who are bird watchers and recognize the beauty in this part of creation, but who don’t recognize the Creator. They see beauty, and appreciate beauty, even though they don’t know God. That’s God’s goodness. We all experience beauty in what we see, what we taste, what we touch. We experience God’s goodness when these things are beautifully useful. In Jonah 4 it says, “Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that he might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.” God was concerned about Jonah’s comfort, so He met his need in a good way! Long before Jesus came to Zacchaeus’ town, God planned to have someone plant a tree, and rain to fall so that it grew, and that tree be in the perfect place to meet Zaccheaus need (he was a tiny dude and needed a tree to climb to see Jesus). God gives everyone good and beautiful gifts.

God’s Goodness in Discovery
Check out Isaiah 28: “When a farmer plows for planting…when he has leveled the surface…does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way…Grain must be ground to make bread…all this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.” Think about this farmer going about his job, figuring out how to interact with God’s creation in a way to get good results, work well, and make advancements. God’s allowing that! God’s teaching him. And from this farmer, we see that God gives grace to everyone who works in this world. To anyone who makes new discoveries in the medical field, or creates a new masterpiece of art, or who discovers a new creative way to ride waves, that is God giving us grace to live in this world well. Many people are making these discoveries and contributing to our lives in significant ways without realizing that it is God who is enabling and allowing them to do it! Many of us praise the innovator and celebrate their achievement without giving any thought to getting exited about the God who made it possible by His goodness. But God has given us these things so that we can enjoy Him through them. Praise God for music we enjoy and food and art and things that have been discovered that enrich our lives! For iPhones and comfortable shoes and coffee and air conditioning and flushable wet wipes! Praise God for the grace he’s given to people to create and discover.

God’s Goodness in Morals
In Genesis 20, there was a king named Abimelech who took a woman named Sarah into his house, not knowing that she was another man’s wife. God spoke clearly to Abimelech telling him not to touch her. So he didn’t. And God makes it clear that He kept Abimelech from sinning. God keeps us from sinning; both people who believe in him and people who don’t. God blesses unbelievers with good morals a lot of times. In fact, sometimes people who don’t follow Jesus can be blessed with strong convictions about how to live and strong morals so that their lives actually pattern following God more than a Christian’s life might. That’s because Christians are still stained by sin, and also because unbelievers are sometimes given this amazing gift of God’s goodness. Praise God for that!

We really could go on for a long, long time looking at all the facets of God’s common grace in this world. It’s David’s constant recognition of God’s goodness and grace in ALL OF LIFE that leads him to praise God and enjoy Him constantly. I can just see David eating chocolate and praising God for chocolate! Listening to music and praising God for giving him that good gift to enjoy. Do you recognize the ways that God’s been good and gracious in your life? Are you enjoying him through his blessings? Are you enjoying friends and food and sports and music and hikes and vacations and the ocean because you have a good Father who gave you those good gifts? A heart that’s enjoying God is a heart that recognizes how good God is being in all of life.