The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness… Gal 5:22 NIV

When reading fairy tales or watching movies, good usually triumphs over evil by the end of the story. Often in real life, our desire is for the happily ever after fairy tale ending. But even in movies or fairy tales, the hero or heroine has to overcome many obstacles before they achieve goodness.

Goodness is excellence or virtue. I think that most of us desire goodness. The Israelites had the Lord’s promise that He was going to take them into the Promised Land where He had good waiting for them. Unfortunately, grumbling, complaining and disobedience forced them to stay in the wilderness for 40 years.

Out of the original Israelites, only Joshua and Caleb were able to experience the fulfillment of God’s promise. The new generation of Israelites that journeyed with them into the Promised Land had much to learn. They earned the right to enter into the goodness that the Lord had promised by allowing the Lord to remove the dross that was in their lives.

To enter into the land of goodness flowing with worth, integrity and value, God must often take us through the wilderness. There He tests our endurance and our willingness to forge a new identity that exhibits His goodness.

The wilderness experience is not pleasant because we must be willing to expose the areas of our life that need to burned out by the desert sun. If we are willing to go to the scorched places of our lives, the Lord stands waiting right there, to meet us. There is an almost unimaginable, exhilarating freedom that comes when we allow the Lord to heal our damaged places.

It does require courage to move forward into God’s goodness.

But when we do, we then can say that, yes, there really were giants along the way, but I trusted God and now He is allowing me to enjoy the land of His promise, flowing with milk and honey. I can be confident and trust that He always only had good planned for me.

In Psalm 23:6, David said that “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”  Goodness and mercy are the Lord’s protective rear guard for us in the midst of struggles. Let us boldly move forward and proclaim to the whole world that the Lord is good.

I can trust in His goodness.

~Marianne