Verse 5 of Psalm 100 strings three glorious pearls together: the Lord’s goodness, the Lord’s love and the Lord’s faithfulness.

The Lord’s goodness refers to his utter moral perfection and unique capacity to govern all things flawlessly. There is no one good but him alone. He stands as the yardstick against which the value of all else is measured. There is nothing or no one better than him.

Connected to the Lord’s goodness (but distinct from it) is the Lord’s love.  The Lord’s love speaks of the way he directs his goodness towards the well-being of others. Love can’t exist without another. God’s love is his goodness extended to us for our benefit.

Finally, faithfulness speaks of God’s impeccable reliability and his enduring commitment to applying his goodness to us, in love, forever. He is not fickle. He will not fail us. He will not forsake us.

His love knows no bounds, and his faithfulness no end. If I aspire to be anything like my heavenly Father, these things need to be mine in increasing measure. I pray God would grow me in those qualities. As a child of the good Lord whose love endures forever, I want to be a model of that to all who are near and dear to me.

A Prayer

Please, Father, let us never tire of plumbing the depths of your goodness, love and faithfulness. Open our eyes, hearts, and minds to be completely enamoured by the beauty of your perfection. Suppress in us any temptation to believe that we can find goodness in anything apart from you. Grow in us endless gratitude for the love you’ve poured out on us in Jesus and help us honour your enduring faithfulness by never straying from you. By your Spirit, shape us into the likeness of your Son, Father, so that your goodness, love and faithfulness will characterise us in ever-increasing measure.