Good All The Time
Matthew 14:22-33; Romans 10:10-13[1]
There’s a tradition in Presbyterian gatherings
where the leader says, “God is good!” when it’s time for the group to settle
down. The response is supposed to be “All the Time!” Then the leader announces,
“All the Time!” and the group responds, “God is good!” On the surface of
things, I think it’s a pretty great thing that we start gatherings with a
reminder that God loves us so much that he’s good to us all the time. But being
a student of language, I think not only about what it says or what the words
mean but also how it works. So you probably won’t be surprised that I’m not
entirely comfortable with this practice. Because when we say together, “God is
good, all the time!” in that setting, the point of it is that it’s time to hush
and listen to what the speaker has to say. I’ve mentioned before that instead
of settling down and being quiet, if we really meant what we’re saying, we
would burst into spontaneous celebration!
One of the reasons why we don’t do that, in my
opinion, is we’re not sure we believe “God is good, all the time!” Life can be
wonderful at times, like when you’re holding your newborn child or grandchild.
But life can be hard and painful at times as well. It’s in those times I think
we wonder most whether God really is good. It doesn’t help that the Hebrew
Bible is full of statements about how “angry” God is. Especially for those of
us who may have grown up with abusive parents. For us, “anger” doesn’t mean
that God loves us so much that he’s upset with us when we do things that could
hurt us or endanger us, like any good parent would. “Anger” means that God is
just looking for an excuse to take his self-hatred out on us by “striking” us in
some way. There’s really nothing good about that! Many of us have grown up with
a keen sense that somehow, we never lived up to all the expectations of our
parents. Most of us carry that burden in some way, and we tend to project it
onto God and assume that God is disappointed with us as well. I think we’re not
really sure we believe that “God is good, all the time.”
But the Scriptures insist over and over,
especially in the Hebrew Bible, that God is indeed good, and that God is good
all the time. We have a word for it: we call it “grace.” But “grace” is one of
those words we use all the time without actually knowing what it means. In the
Bible, “grace” means that God’s love for us never fails. “Grace” means God
truly is “good all the time.” And “grace” means that’s true simply because
that’s who God is, not because of anything we might do to “deserve” it as a
“reward.” The truth of the matter is that we can never have enough faith, we
can never be good enough, we can never do enough to deserve God’s love and
goodness. God gives them to us anyway because that’s who God is! That’s what
“grace” means. And that’s the testimony of Scripture, over and over again. It’s
the point of the verse from our Psalm reading for today says God’s unfailing
love combines with the fact that he is always true to his nature: “Loyal love
and faithfulness meet; deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss” (Ps
85:10, NET). Those things come together in God’s character and assure us
that yes, God really is good all the time!
I think we see something of God’s goodness reflected
in the way Jesus interacts with Peter in our Gospel lesson. At the outset, we
should note that in Matthew, discipleship is always practiced by people who are
called “you of little faith.” That’s what Jesus called the ones who were going
to be called “the Apostles” and have statues built in their honor all over the
world! We see it in this story when they become afraid in a boat that’s being
“battered” by a storm “at the very dead of night” (Mt 14:25, NTE)! One
of the ways that Matthew calls attention to the original disciples’ “little
faith” is by telling the story of Peter asking to walk on the water. Only
Matthew tells this story. It’s been commonly observed that Peter’s “faith” was
demonstrated by being willing to get out of the boat in the midst of a storm,
and that his “doubt” came when he shifted his attention from Jesus to the wind
and the waves and began to sink. The idea is that if he had had enough faith,
he would have been able to walk on the water just like Jesus did.
But I’m not so sure about all that. I don’t
think getting out of a boat in the middle of a storm is such a good idea. I
would say Peter demonstrates his “doubt” by asking to walk to Jesus on the
water in the first place. When Jesus called out to them, “Take heart, it is I;
do not be afraid” (Mt 14:27), he was trying to reassure the disciples. But
Peter didn’t trust Jesus’ word. Instead, he wanted “proof.” So Peter said,
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” (Mt
14:28)! Peter sounds doubtful! I tend to agree with those who, like John
Calvin, think that a response of faith on Peter’s part would have been to take
to heart the assurance Jesus gave him and stay in the boat![2] That’s where he was supposed to be. That’s where he was needed. And Peter
needed that boat to keep from sinking into the waves during a raging storm! But
when Peter plunged out onto the waters and began to sink, Matthew’s Gospel says
that Jesus “immediately reached out his hand and caught him” (Mt 14:31). I
think one of the lessons we’re meant to come away with is that God shows us his
goodness by always “catching” us, even when we’re still waist-deep in the water
with the storm raging all around us! God always “catches” us.
Paul makes a similar point in our lesson from
Romans. I particularly like the part that says: “‘Anyone who trusts in him will
never be disappointed,’” and “The same Lord is the Lord of all and gives many
blessings to all who trust in him” (Rom 10:11-12, NCV). I like it even
better in Gene Peterson’s The Message
translation: “Scripture reassures us, ‘No one who trusts God like this—heart
and soul—will ever regret it.’ It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s
… background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to
everyone who calls out for help.”
“Incredibly generous.” I think that has to be
one of the best phrases to describe God’s grace I’ve ever heard. “Incredibly
generous.” I think the heart of Paul’s message in this passage is that God is
incredibly generous all the time, and to everyone. And as Paul insists, that’s
a thoroughly biblical concept. He’s quoting Scripture passages here. He’s
quoting from the Hebrew Bible! God loves us all unconditionally. God offers new
life to us all, without any exceptions or exclusions. And God does this simply
because that’s who God is.[3] We can ever do enough to deserve or earn God’s love or God’s goodness, but that
means we don’t have to do anything to earn it! From the standpoint of biblical
faith, from Moses to the the Psalms to the prophets to Jesus to the Apostles,
the fundamental message of the Bible is that “God is good, all the time,”
simply because that’s who God is!
[1] © 2026 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/9/2026 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of
the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 2, 240–241. Cf. also Gene
Boring, “Gospel of Matthew” New Interpreters Bible IX:329-30: “Faith is
not being able to walk on the water—only God can do that—but daring to believe,
in the face of all evidence, that God is with us in the boat, … as it makes its
way through the storm, battered by the waves.”
[3] Karl Barth, Epistle to the Romans, 1933, 102-103: “Grace is the generous
and free will of God, His will to accept us; its necessity proceeds from Him
and from Him only. … the necessity that God shall maintain and show forth His
faithfulness, without any provision by us of an occasion for its display—but
simply because He is God; … .”
