Goodness of God

https://odb.org/2026/03/06/god%E2%80%99s-goodness

Deuteronomy 6:10-19 NIV – 10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you – a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

Even good things can become dangers when they turn us from what matters most. Moses cautioned God’s people about this after they left Egypt and before they entered the land God was about to give them—a land with “houses filled with all kinds of good things” that they “did not provide” (Deuteronomy 6:11). “When you eat and are satisfied,” Moses warned, “be careful that you do not forget the Lord” (vv. 11-12). Remembering God in our blessings helps us because He is the source of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17). When we humbly respond to His goodness by loving Him with heart, soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), we find in Him the best blessing of all. (James Banks, Our Daily Bread 6th March 2026)

One of our weakness as a Christian (myself included) is that sometimes in the “euphoria” of complaining about life and its challenges, we forget about God’s goodness. Granted, life could have dealt us a better hand. Who wouldn’t want to be born with a silver spoon? Who wouldn’t want to come into this world and be part of a family with wealth and influence and power? Yet even those with wealth haggle over silly things like why was I left with RM10 million while my brother had RM100 million? There are challenges at different families.

Philosophically, I think, we should accept that we need to make the best of what we have or what we were given. Actually, that’s the fact of life – everyone makes do with what God has given them or where God has placed us and we do the best under the circumstances. Some do better than others. Some do exceptionally well.

I think when it comes to physical wealth or riches, contentment is key to being at peace with our station in life. We strive to do better but as believers who live based on “right side up”, we balance our quest for achievements with contentment. At the same time, in parallel, we have spiritual goals and milestones. We know our destiny is not here on earth. We are pilgrims passing through. But far from not being bothered with the affairs of the world and live life in isolation, we are aware that we’re very much an integral part of this world. We fully participate in its affairs although we are not of this world. Fulfilling God’s calling, His plans and purposes for our lives is more essential than living out our own dreams and aspirations.

Be contented and be grateful for where we are in our career, spiritual walk and ministry. We try our best to live a balanced life. We do our best at our jobs. We do our best in our ministry. We fulfil God’s calling for us for this season and His plans and purposes for our life. Most importantly, we appreciate and are thankful for His goodness in our lives – our job, our marriage, our family, our ministry, our wealth, savings and assets. The opportunity to travel while we can. Our health, our physical body, our home. God has been good to us. He is good, all the time! Amen!

P/s

We are thankful for the opportunity to travel to the UK to see and chill with our first-born. We are grateful for the goodness of God and His grace that we avoided the Dubai mayhem although in our Emirates flight to London on Friday/Saturday, we had a 5-hour layover in Dubai. We missed the Iranian missiles targeted at Dubai International Airport by a few hours! There’s some hassle rebooking our flights back to KL to avoid the Middle East and at the same time incurring some additional expense. But that’s nothing compared to the situation if we had been stranded in Dubai in the midst of war.