Monday, October 24, 2016
GOD IS GOOD
Is God good? How do you know? Has someone ever challenged His goodness by asking you, "How could a good God allow terrorists to kill dozens of innocent people and strike fear into the hearts of millions more? Or how could a good God look the other way when people are treated unfairly and blatantly taken advantage of?" Have you ever wondered yourself about God's goodness when you or a loved one has been seriously ill or when life has been a struggle for some other reason? Where is His goodness then?
How can we be sure God is truly good? He tells us in His inerrant Word. "God is love" (1 John 4:8). "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good" (Psalm 136:1). He is the ultimate "good." The problem is not with God's goodness, but with our definition of what is good. We often assume that "good" is all that is easy and painless at the moment. From that perspective, being confronted with our guilt and dealing with hardships in life are not good. We need to watch out for blaming God for what's wrong in the world. God didn't bring sin and death into the creation. Man did.
God doesn't merely say He is good, He put His goodness into action in sending Jesus to face sin and death head-on and win the victory for all people. "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9). How can we question God's goodness when He punished His holy Son for our sins?
God is good and because He is good, He is not going to always direct our lives as we might like. He is not always going to make things easy and painless. But He will in all things act in love with our eternal wellbeing foremost in mind.
God is good. Trust Him when He tells you that. When things are going well, thank Him for His obvious goodness. When there are difficulties, rely on that same goodness, even though it is not immediately evident. When it's hard to see the goodness, go back to the cross where Jesus died for you. Remember what Paul says: "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
