His Goodness

Goodness That Follows

Most of us, for most of our lives, have been taught to chase good things. We chase good grades. We chase good jobs. We chase good health. We chase the good life. The world tells us that goodness is something we earn, something we work for, something we run toward.

But Psalm 23:6 says something completely different — something that changes everything if we let it. David, after walking with God for a lifetime, did not write that goodness is something we chase. He wrote that goodness is something that follows us.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

That little word follow is one of the most beautiful words in Scripture. It pictures God’s goodness like a faithful companion walking quietly behind us — through every season, every year, every difficulty, every joy. We do not have to run after it. We do not have to earn it. We do not have to make it appear. It is already there. It has been there all along. Behind us, beside us, with us. Following.

We had a spiritual service in our community not long ago. The chapel was warm, the light was soft, and we were singing one of the songs many of our residents have grown to love — Goodness of God. The chorus rose gently through the room:

I watched the faces around me as we sang. Some had eyes closed. Some had hands quietly resting in their laps. Some had tears, the kind that come without warning when a song speaks the truth your heart has been holding for years.

After the service ended, a woman who had been sitting in the second row came up to me. And she said, almost as if she had only just realized it:

She did not say most of her hard seasons. She did not say some of the losses. She said the goodness had been there in all of them. She could not always see it at the time — none of us can — but looking back now, with the long view of a faithful life, she could see what had been true all along. God’s goodness had been following her the whole time.

That is the gift of a long life walked with God. The view backward becomes clearer than the view forward. Things that felt impossible at the time begin to reveal themselves as moments where He was quietly working. Losses we did not understand begin to show their shape — not as cruelties, but as mercies we did not have eyes to see in the dark. And the moments we thought were ordinary turn out to have been holy.

His Nearness is His Goodness. His goodness is part of His very nature. He cannot stop being good any more than the sun can stop giving warmth. His goodness comforts us in sorrow. It strengthens us in weakness. It surprises us with small mercies we never asked for. And even when life feels heavy, even when nothing seems to make sense, His goodness is quietly at work behind the scenes — preparing, providing, and holding things together in ways we may only understand later.

If you cannot see His goodness clearly today, do not panic. Sometimes our vision is clouded. Difficulty is real. Grief is heavy. The slow rhythm of an ordinary, weary life can make His goodness hard to see. But just because you cannot see it does not mean it is absent. It simply means the season is hard. And His goodness is still following you.

Today, look for it. Look for one small thing. A kind word from a neighbor. A gentle memory that surfaced unexpectedly. A moment of unexpected peace in the middle of an anxious day. The warmth of sunlight through the window. The taste of something familiar. A song that reminded you of who you are and Whose you are. These are not coincidences. These are His goodness — following you, finding you, gently letting you know He is here.

Goodness and mercy shall follow you. All the days of your life. Every single one of them. Not just the easy ones. All. That is His promise. And it is just as true today as it was the day David first wrote it.

• Tonight before you sleep, try this gentle practice: name three places where you saw God’s goodness today — even if they are small. A warm cup of tea. A friend’s call. A moment of quiet. Naming them helps you notice the One who has been quietly following you all along.
• For the Next Generation: The world says happiness comes from chasing good things. The Bible says peace comes from recognizing the goodness that has been following us all along. Ask an older person in your life: “When you look back, where do you see God’s goodness most clearly now — even in seasons that were hard at the time?” Their answer is one of the deepest gifts an older person can give you.