Goodness

God is good — good in himself, and the source of every good thing. "You are good and do good" (Ps 119:68); "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" (Jas 1:17). His goodness is the standard by which we even know to call anything good; the very fact that we recognize evil as a corruption assumes a good it falls short of.

This is why the problem of evil is felt so sharply by believers: it is precisely because we trust that God is good that suffering perplexes us. The Bible's invitation is not to deny the darkness but to "taste and see that the LORD is good" (Ps 34:8) — to test his goodness in experience, supremely at the cross, where the worst evil was turned to the greatest good. Goodness is not a conclusion we reach despite the world's pain; it is a Person we come to trust through it.