Is God really good?

“Taste and see that the Lord is good…”  (Psalm 34:8 NIV).

Is seafood good to you? It is to me. I love seafood. I think it’s the best.

Some years ago while visiting Rick Warren’s church in California, we found this really good, authentic Italian restaurant at Capistrano Beach named Agostino’s Ristorante.  When we took Stephen and Caroline out to the Saddleback Worship Conference earlier this summer, of course I had to take them to Agostino’s. I was really looking forward to eating this certain seafood dish. I really talked it up.

But after all the anticipation, I ordered the wrong thing on the menu. I ordered the Liguine Al’ Agostino which had shrimp served over pasta, but I meant to order the Liguine Alla’ Pescatore which had pasta covered in a light tomato sauce and topped with shrimp, scallops, calamari and mussels.

The meal I ordered was good. But I was disappointed because I knew that the Liguine Alla’ Pescatore was better. Sure, they are both great seafood dishes and include jumbo shrimp, but in my opinion the one is way better than the other.

I insisted that Stephen order the same thing I ordered, so he did. He kept saying, “It’s OK Dad. I think it’s great.”

But I kept saying, “Yeah, but it’s not what I meant for you to taste. The Pescatore is sooo much better!”

Isn’t it funny how you can think a thing is good, until you discover something better?

I suppose we can be that way in our thinking about God. We think we know what is good and what is bad. We all have our own “tastes,” our own perspectives. We observe the injustice and suffering in the world and we wonder: “Is God really good?”

But how do we even know what is good? We only know what we’ve “tasted.” God is the Creator and we are merely creatures. How do we know what is good unless He tells us?

The origin for the English word “good” and the word “god” are the same. Apparently, the divine name and the divine goodness were synonymous in Old Anglo-Saxon minds.

The comparative and superlative forms of the adjective, good are “better” and “best” (not “gooder” and “goodest” as some would say).

So, is God really good?

Taste and see. God is not only good, He is better. God is best.