Many Christians experience doubt about God's character at some point in their faith walk and ask, “Is God truly good?” Maybe we’ve been a victim of an accident or crime, a loved one has passed away, or someone close was diagnosed with a terminal illness. In the midst of such trauma, we may wonder how a good God could “let something like this happen.” We may also question God’s goodness when we consider certain Old Testament stories and passages in which God appears jealous, wrathful, or arbitrary. Yet the Bible assures us that God is good, that he stands with us in our times of trouble, and that in all things he works for the good of those who love him. The greatest testimony to the immeasurable goodness of God is that of his Son, Jesus Christ, whom the Bible calls “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). In his ministry, all of Jesus’ miraculous works testified to God’s ultimate goodness. In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, God shows us just how far his goodness will go to redeem the creation he loves.

We’re not alone in our doubt

At times in my life, usually in periods of extreme stress and difficulty, I have doubted God’s goodness, although not necessarily in those words. When my first marriage fell apart, my wife of seven years left me and our two small children. I demanded to know why God would let such a terrible thing happen to my children. Years later, when my youngest brother lay dying, I questioned how God could expect my parents to endure such a horrible ordeal. In these instances, I doubted God’s ultimate goodness… even as I prayed fervently for his goodness to prevail. I’m not alone in feeling that way. The Bible is full of stories of people who doubted God’s goodness but experienced it nonetheless.

In the book of Genesis, God commands Abram (whom he would later rename Abraham) to go to another land, which God promised to give to Abram’s offspring. All along this journey, Abram repeatedly doubts God’s goodness toward him. He especially doubts God’s promise concerning his “offspring”: Abram and his wife were already old, and they had never been able to conceive. That doubt leads Abram to conceive a child with his wife’s servant. The resulting jealousy and resentment cause strife and heartache for all involved. Despite all that, Abraham and his wife finally have a son, Isaac, when they are very old. Later, God tests Abraham: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you” (Genesis 22:2). Now fully trusting in God’s goodness, Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac, the heir for whom he had waited so long. In the end, God stops Abraham: “‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son’” (Genesis 22:12).  

Many doubters follow Abraham. Moses doubts God’s goodness in the choice of sending him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Even after God shows him several signs that he will be with him and grant him power, Moses remains afraid and offers several well-reasoned excuses for why God should send someone else (Exodus 3-4). But God had called Moses, and he kept all his promises to Moses and the Israelites. The prophet Elijah also doubted God’s goodness. Having just defeated the prophets of Baal by calling down fire from heaven, Elijah immediately doubts God’s power to protect him from Queen Jezebel’s vengeance. He was so despondent that he wanted to die. Yet, like Moses, God had more work for Elijah to do, reassuring him with a gentle whisper (1 Kings 18-19).  

Clearly, I am not alone in questioning God’s goodness. And these examples all come from the Old Testament, from which many questions about God’s goodness arise. The Old Testament characterizes God as holy, just, and merciful, but also shows him as jealous, wrathful, and vengeful. In Genesis, God almost completely destroys his creation with a global flood. In Deuteronomy, God commands the Israelites:

In the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 20:16-18).

These judgments can really make us squirm. In our modern mindset, we may find it hard to understand or accept that God the Creator is wholly sovereign over all his creation and reserves for himself the authority to pronounce verdict and sentence against those who sin against him. And that this God is the same loving, merciful, and approachable God depicted in the New Testament. He is, in fact, the same God whose character Jesus Christ perfectly embodies.

Jesus embodies all the goodness of God

John the Baptist prepared the way before Jesus’ ministry and baptized Jesus. After seeing all that Jesus was doing, John asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:2-3). Jesus replied that all the good John was seeing meant that he was indeed the One:

Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me (Matthew 11:4-6).

When Jesus came proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, he displayed all of God’s goodness through his teaching and miracles. The Son of God, Jesus, was God in human form: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus demonstrated God’s love, calling his people into repentance and a restored relationship with his Father.

Goodness doesn’t always mean being nice. It also means telling the truth in love. And Jesus did that. Just like in the Old Testament, Jesus talked about judgment, warning his listeners repeatedly what will happen to those who reject his gospel: “This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:49-50). But these words, too, show us the goodness of God, for this judgment means there will be justice for the evil perpetrated in our world. These words also demonstrate God’s mercy: when we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, he suffers God’s wrath for us, and we live with him forever at peace with God.

God is good

Jesus shows us who God is and perfectly represents all God’s goodness. We live in a time when God’s kingdom is breaking through, but has not yet come in its fullness. In our faith journeys with Christ, the circumstances of our lives may lead us to wonder what God is doing and to doubt his ultimate goodness. But we can’t allow ourselves to stay there. In prayer, we can go before our Father in heaven and confess our struggle, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). And he promises to never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and to be an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

We can trust in the goodness of God.