January 7, 2015

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.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

God Is Good In ALL Circumstances

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. -- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

The other day a friend’s relative was admitted to the hospital with a really scary disease. Fortunately, tests showed that the disease hadn’t spread to the brain and he would likely survive and be fine. This was glorious news and we all thanked God.

One person said something that I’ve heard many times before in such circumstances: God is good. Yes, He is. All the time. In all circumstances. Including the times when we don’t get the news we want.

I understood what she meant. It’s important to give God praise and glory when something when we receive good news or something wonderful happens. But we must never lose sight of the very real fact that God is always good, no matter the circumstances.

So why does God allow bad things to happen to us? Pastor Rob answered this question last Sunday. He didn’t provide any new information. It’s just that we’d really rather not hear the truth sometimes.

God gave us all free will. He didn’t want a bunch of human puppets. God wanted people to love Him for who He is and because we choose to love and honor Him. Surely we all can understand that. True love doesn’t happen because we are ordered to love. True love comes when we choose to love.

Sometimes we use that free will to make bad choices. And sometimes others use their free will to make bad choices that impact negatively on our lives. That’s the part we don’t want to hear. We want God to stop the bad things from happening to us but He can’t do that without taking away free will.

God also uses pain to get our attention. When we’re cruising along in life with no troubles and no worries, we aren’t as apt to draw close to God as we are when our world is crumbling down around our feet.

Pastor Rob gave the example of Jonah. God called him to a task and he just said no. Until he had the opportunity to spend a little time in the belly of a fish. Jonah still didn’t want to do God’s will, but he did it anyway. And God cared for him despite his attitude. The same kind of attitude we’ve got sometimes when God doesn’t let us have our own way.

God also uses our pain to teach us to depend on Him. I wonder if anyone truly knows God until everything and everyone you ever thought you needed is gone and God is all you have. Then you understand. You get it. You learn to cling to Him in a desperate way that refuses to let go.

And lastly, Pastor Rob pointed out, God allows bad things to happen to us so that we will use that pain to minister to others. Pain prepares us to serve others in a way nothing else can.

God blesses us in numerous ways throughout our lives. He blesses us in the good. And He blesses us in the bad. God is good -- all the time.