God's infinite goodness

Meditating on Psalm 5 this morning. 

I get, living in this fallen world, the judgment of God. And I get, to whatever small degree I am able, the magnificence of God's gift of Himself in Christ. But verse 4 strikes a distant major chord in me: For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you. The passage goes on to descrbe what happens to the rebellious without Christ. It all has to be there. It is truth that in Adam all men sin and that in this world is much wickedness and evil. But here is my difficulty, being earthbound and not yet glorified: I can hardly conceive what it means that evil cannot dwell with God. What I can't conceive is the other side of that coin: the amazing goodness, joy, love, perfect holiness, peace that is emanating from infinite JHWH. Judgment passed. (And judgment for our sin has passed.) In my pursuit of obedience, righteousness, Christ-likeness, in my desire that the law should lead my little ones to their need of Him, in my own inability to see God, I have understood the judgments of God, the righteous requirements of God more easily, more fully, than I have understood the goodness of God. Both sides really do meet in Christ, in His work. I humbly seek the forgiveness already granted for misrepresenting God to my little ones. I see now how my own fears affected their understanding. And I praise Him that He is faithful and He is accomplishing all of His purposes and that He is all I need and all that my children need. I beg Him for greater and greater understanding and sight of His goodness.

How lovely is Your tabernacle, O JHWH of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of JHWH; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. But even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young: Your altars, O JHWH of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed those who dwell in Your house; they will stll be praising You. Psalm 84