I’ve just published a new song all about God’s goodness, how he is good at all times — even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Story behind the song

As I was thinking and praying about Christian topics to write about, the phrase that came to me was ‘always good’. God is always good in his nature and in every way. One of my heroes in faith is John Newton – he who is most famous for writing the hymn Amazing Grace. But he considered his most important contribution to be the letters that he wrote. A few years ago I read Wise Counsel, a collection of his letters to John Ryland Jr. One of the things I noticed was that Newton often referred to Mark 7:37, “he has done everything well”. This phrase has stayed with me ever since.

Something I learned at college is that God is infinitely good – he is pure goodness, he is eternal goodness, goodness is simply his nature all the time. (I wrote a post about how God is infinitely good a few years ago).

You can see that in the way God describes himself in Exodus:

“And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Exodus 33:19

God’s goodness is shown to us in how he treats us, ultimately in his salvation of us as sinners. His goodness is also shown to us in how he guides us through his word and Spirit (e.g. Psalm 25:8, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways”) and how he even turns the evil in our lives for good (Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him”).

Because God is good, we should praise God always – “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures for ever” (1 Chronicles 16:34).

This is my attempt at putting all that into a song!

Download Audio

If you’d like to download a high-quality audio version of the song, head on over to Bandcamp where you can download a copy for a small fee.

Lyrics

Always good, you are always good,
your love endures for eternity. 
Always good, you are always good, 
you have done all things well. 

You’re good in your nature, 
as Father, Spirit, Son:
a love without a limit, 
our God the Three-in-One. 
Your words are worth far more than gold, 
you cannot ever lie;
On everything you say and do 
we always can rely. 

Your mercy and kindness 
we cannot understand; 
that you could send Christ Jesus
to bring us to your hands. 
Although we are so unworthy 
to stand before your throne, 
you guide us in your righteous ways 
and lead us safely home. 

When things seem to go wrong, 
and life is just too hard, 
you have not left us helpless, 
you’re faithful to your word. 
In everything you work for good, 
for all those you have called;
We have nothing apart from you, 
our good and upright Lord. 

Always good, you are always good, 
we’ll praise your goodness eternally. 
Always good, you are always good, 
you’re always good to me.

Lead Sheet – Free download

My intention for every song I write is that the sheet music should be freely available. You can download the lead sheet as a PDF here.

Scripture references

• Mark 7:37
• Romans 8:28
• Exodus 33:19
• 1 Chronicles 16:34
• Psalm 16:2
• Psalm 25:8
• Psalm 84:11
• Psalm 119:68