Psalm 16:2 I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good besides You.”
Indeed it is good to come to the Scriptures to be calibrated by reality. I know in my own heart that I often times invent reality, so therefore it is pivotal to be told the truth instead of trying to creatively compose it.
I understand from this passage that any good that I may have is not sourced in me but rather in God. It is God and God alone who is the source of goodness. Everything that may truly be called good is sourced in, characterized by, and sustained by God.
As a Christian we need to pray this way, we need to think this way and we need to live this way. We have no good but from God. Therefore when we pray we are to seek God’s will which is goodness because he is good (Ps. 119.68). Then we “eagerly watch” (Ps. 5.3) with eyes suspecting the goodness of God. Then when we see God’s goodness in our lives (even more clearly now because we are praying for and anticipating it) we are inclined to praise and thank him, for we know that every good gift comes from God (Jam. 1.17).
This also works the other way too, regrettably. When I am thinking that I am good then I have no need to pray. I also have little understanding of my own sinfulness and utter need for God to work some good down into my life. And further, I will not be apt to praise him for his goodness because I am too busy worshipping and marveling at myself for being so good.
I think it was Spurgeon who spoke of faith as the gift of self forgetfulness, as the ability to look away from yourself and unto God. How refreshing, how glorious, how beautiful and how sanctifying it would be for us today to look away from ourselves and to look unto God. That is to see him alone as the author of all that is good. Then when we evaluate our lives and see some good things happening we are not drawn to erroneously praise ourselves but rather God, the very reservoir of goodness. It is here when our pride is humbled that God alone is exalted. Amen.