God is Good
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever.
-- Psalm 107:1
A sweet friend recently received a wonderful medical report. Her pathology results were fine. No cancer. Her Facebook post was flooded with comments. "God is good," some wrote. Yes, He is. But God would still have been good if her test results revealed cancer.
The same thing happened a few years ago when a tornado ripped through our town, killing nine and destroying the high school and numerous homes. Those whose homes were fine, whose loved ones came home, declared God's goodness. Were they saying God wasn't good to those who died, to those who lost loved ones and homes and businesses? I doubt they even considered it.
I am reminded of the story of the man who was born blind. You can read the story in John, Chapter 9. Jesus healed him and explained that neither the man nor his parents had sinned. He was born blind that the glory of God might be displayed in his life.
The sad truth is that we don't learn so much when life is going well. Nor do we rely greatly on God when we think we've got it all under control. We turn to God when this sinful world rips us apart. And that allows God to work in us and through us to glorify God.
God is good no matter our circumstances. God is good no matter what happens. We live in a fallen world. Death and destruction are all around us. God never promised to insulate us from all of that. What He promised is to walk with us through the storm, to be with us, to strengthen us, to carry us when we couldn't carry ourselves.
It's hard to grasp all this. We want a simple answer. And we get angry when bad things happen. We expect God to love us enough to protect us from everything bad. But His intention was never to put us in a bubble and dictate our every move. He loves us enough to let us live, making choices and coming into contact with people who make choices too.
What about natural disasters? Our world groans under the weight of sinful man. Yeah. There was that awful tornado. God carried us all through the days and months and years that have come afterwards. God is good. He never left us alone. He dried our tears. He provided miracles in the midst of horror. Would we have preferred that God made the tornado go away? Of course, we would. But that's not generally how God works.
God is good. Always. Us? Not so much. But God always loves us and is willing to help us. God never abandons us. He never leaves us alone with our mess, our tragedy, our sadness.
God is good. All the time. God is good.
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