attributes of God - goodness

This month in "The Attributes of God" we were talking about the goodness of God.  I really enjoyed it.  God's goodness is one of those attributes I love thinking about, but just don't think about enough.

One of the quotes I like by Tozer is one where he defines the word "magnify".

   The psalmist said, "O magnify the LORD with me" (34:3).  "Magnify" may mean one of two things: "make it look bigger than it is," or "see it as big as it is."  The latter is what "magnify" means as the psalmist used it.
   If you want to examine a very small amount of matter, you put if under a microscope and magnify it to make it look bigger than it is.  But it is impossible to make God look bigger than He is.  When we say "magnify the Lord," we mean try to see God somewhere near as big as He is.  This is what I want to do.  This is what, by His help, I have dedicated myself to do.

Tozer also pointed out that God isn't ever "partway" anything.  He's always wholly good, wholly awesome, wholly loving, etc.  What an amazing thought!

In the chapter there was another quote I liked:

   The goodness of God is the only valid reason for existence, the only reason underlying all things.  Do you imagine that you deserve to be born, that you deserve to be alive?  The unbelieving poet Omar Khayyam said,

Into this universe and why
not knowing nor whence
like water willy-nilly flowing
and out of it like wind along the waste,
whither I know not,
willy-nilly blowing.

Tonight we were watching a bit of the old Moses movie, "The Ten Commandments".  As we were watching I got to thinking about God's goodness in the lives of Moses and his parents.  I can't imagine how Moses' mother must have felt as she set her baby boy adrift in the Nile in a basket, knowing the water was full of snakes and crocodiles and all other kinds of dangers, as well as boats and any number of other things that could have brought his young life to an end.  But she trusted in God, and how He showed His goodness through Moses' life!  I just thought it was really neat to think about.

...He made amends for us, "full, fair, and many," turning all our sin into endless worship.