It is good

Do you use the Notes app on your phone? I use mine all the time, in the figurative sense. I’m pretty sure there is not a day that goes by without me opening that app at least several times, some days many more. I have a folder for recipes, one for writing ideas, one for short devotions I’ve published, daily stuff to keep track of (like the door lock code for the F250 that barely runs but we still own because we cannot under any circumstances get rid of a vehicle) and a few others. Sometimes I only have two seconds so I jot down a couple of words hoping I remember what they mean later. According to the app, I have 253 individual notes.

Yesterday, since I have a cold and am trying to keep myself from actually doing anything that requires effort (you know, resting), I started reading through my notes to refresh my memory of what’s there. It was so interesting!

I have notes from when a missionary friend spoke to our group at the very first Rocky Mountain Outreach in July 2020. It is titled “Disciples Are Continuers,” and if I can get his permission, I might share his thoughts.

I also have notes from a John Maxwell session I attended in 2022 when I was going to make millions selling the supplements I still take. (Seriously, they are great if you’re interested in what we’ve taken for 14 years.)

A recipe for essential oil tick spray, notes from an Anna Quindlen podcast, a few of the children’s responses to my question about what we did both well and poorly as parents (you don’t want to know), a list of Colorado hikes I would love to do, and the story of me struggling to figure out 1/3 of a pound of walnuts using a kitchen scale that measured in grams.

I have quite a few notes about writing ideas and no idea where they came from. What recently made me cry? (Why would I write about that?) Then there’s one that says “God speaks to us in threes” but I could only think of two examples, so that’s probably why I haven’t written that essay. I have a list of Ben’s weird and crazy sayings (“jumping through my butt backwards”) and at least twenty different notes that contain information that was supposed to help me write a book. I should probably delete those.

I have a note that details the circumstances of the day I had my very worst panic attack ever and one that has a recipe for chicken worming tincture. One has the dimensions for the two closets in my house that still don’t have closet rods and shelves (and doors, but I am realistic about my skill level) and another has two voicemail recordings from my mother so I can still hear her voice. One says simply: I spent 1350 days pregnant and I wish I could remember if I felt good or bad about that when I wrote it.

Another says, “It is good.” I glanced at that one and wondered what I wrote it for, and continued my scrolling.

But I couldn’t forget it. I started wondering what was good that I wanted to remember, so went to the Blue Letter Bible app and typed in “it is good” to see what popped up.

In the King James Version, which is the one I read, the phrase “it is good” appears 20 times. Two of them refer to God’s name being good (Psalm 52:9 and 54:6). In one, Naomi is talking to Ruth while she’s trying to set her up with Boaz, and Naomi tells Ruth, “it is good . . . that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field.” In other words, stick by them and you’ll meet the guy I want you to meet. Naomi was the original Yenta.

God tells us in Psalm 73:28 that it is good for us to draw nigh to him, and in 147:1 that it’s good to sing his praises. The writer of Psalm 119:71 says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” It doesn’t feel good to be afflicted, but God says it is good for us because we learn his words.

In other places he tells us it is good to eat honey, to eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of our labor, to fear God, to hope, and to bear the yoke in our youth (work hard). In all three gospels, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on a mountain and he is transfigured before them. Moses and Elijah show up at the meeting and Peter, who just can’t ever shut his trap, says, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” Ya think? Why do some people always have to say something, even if it’s something dumb?

In Romans and 1 Corinthians, Paul writes that it is good for us to not make our brother stumble by what we eat, good not to touch a woman you’re not married to, and good to remain unmarried unless you’re burning up with passion and have no control over yourself. And finally in Galatians 4:18, he says it’s good for us to get stirred up over a good thing.

So what’s the point?

There are sixteen separate things about which God says, “it is good.” (FYI, he says “it is not good” seven times).

Here’s how I’m receiving this quick mini-study: While I may feel like a few of these don’t apply to me (e.g., it is good not to touch a woman you’re not married to), some of them are easy to understand and actually do. So now that I know them, I need to do them.

Draw nigh to the Lord. Sing his praises. Learn about his word from my afflictions. Enjoy the fruit of my labor. Hope. Be zealous in good things.

These are the things he says are good.