The Greatness of Good

Good heavens!
Good grief!
Good gravy!

Why do we assign feelings of shock or surprise with the adjective, "good"?
And then add a noun behind it that actually sounds kind of funny when you think of it?

Heavens ... well, the heavens sure are pretty at times. You could call them good.
Grief ... not many people would want to claim that their grief is good, but I suppose if we didn't grieve when we need to, then we would be stuck in a very dark place. And that would not be good.
Gravy ... hmmmm ... I cannot say with confidence that gravy I make is good. I admit it. But I'm sure some people make good gravy.

But what does it all have to do with the surprise and shock we are witnessing that cause us to express these words?
I wonder about words sometimes.
I wonder about how we use them.
I wonder about the why.

So, I have been thinking about "good".
And how frequently we use it.

The food is good.
The song is good.
The haircut is good.
Things we taste and see are sometimes good.

The little boy is a good boy.
The teacher is a good teacher.
The woman is a good mother.
People's behaviour can be good.

The sun is shining; the weather is good.
The rain is falling; the weather is good.
The snow allows for skiing and snowman-making; the weather is good.
Good is sometimes determined by perspective.

But sometimes good doesn't seem to hit the mark.
Good is just ... good.
It's a seemingly weak word to describe the greatness of good.
I can't put my finger on it exactly.
Good has power, I am sure.
More than the good food, people, or weather.

At the beginning of time, when things were created, God Himself made some "good" declarations.
~ light
~ water molecules and chemical elements
~ rocks, clay, sand; roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, seeds
~ planets, moons, stars, the sun
~ fish, fins, birds, feathers
~ the tiniest cell, bones and tissues, muscles and blood, breath
He created and looked over it all, seeing that it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)

This would indicate a goodness beyond what we could ever imagine.
Because who of any of us could ever create things like that? It's just not good. It's awesome. It's mind-blowing. It's beyond our scope of ability. The greatness of good is so unfathomable that all we can do is stand in awe.
Or we should, anyway.
What if we have not been ascribing the right power to the word?
Good is not just this simple word.
Good goes past our understanding.
Good crosses the line of being pleasing, to overwhelmingly surpassing anything our minds could grasp.
And so I celebrate good.
I love good people.
I love good food.
I love good weather.
I love good outdoor time.
I love good books.
I love good music.
I love good friends.

But most of all, I celebrate and rejoice in the goodness of God.
Because whether I think He is good or not, based on my experiences, there is an undeniable truth ...

God. Is. Good.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good ..." (Ps.34:8)
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good ..." (Ps.107:1)