GOD IS GOOD

Job 34:10 “So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong.”

How many of you say grace at meals? As children grow older, they want to have a little fun with the prayer itself. So you sometimes get prayers like this: "Good bread, good meat, good Lord, let’s eat." Or this: "Thank you, Lord, for this meal; we know you are the giver. But thank you, Lord, most of all, that we ain’t havin’ liver." Now, you will have to decide for your own household whether these prayers will be tolerated as expressions of youthful wit, or suppressed as sacrilegious. At our house, we take a firm stand. Those kinds of prayers are not allowed, unless they’re really funny.

When I was growing up, I learned this prayer: "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for this food: By his hand we all are fed, give us, Lord, our daily bread." Any of you use that? Short, simple, good theology. And when you’re done, the potatoes are still warm. Do you believe that God is good?

It’s easy to just reflexively answer, "Yes." We know that’s what we’re supposed to say. And of course, it’s easy to say "God is good" when things are going well. But when we’re suffering, when we’re going through a time of pain, or difficulty, or trial, then it becomes more of an open question, doesn’t it? Our response at those times to the question of whether God is good doesn’t come so quickly and automatically. We wonder, "If God is good, then why this?" Why this illness, why this painful relationship, why this financial problem, why this loss, why this disappointment? And so, even if we keep saying to ourselves and others that God is good, there’s a nagging voice in the back of our head that says, "Really?" "Is God really good?"

The Bible teaches that God is good. He is morally upright and pure. He is just and righteous. There is not the slightest hint of evil, or sin, or wrongdoing in his nature. He is absolutely perfect and holy. God always does what is right. Period. God will never treat us unfairly. He will never break his promises. He will never punish anyone unjustly. Now, sometimes we have a problem with this idea, because we have a very high opinion of what we deserve. We believe that we deserve good health. And so when the biopsy comes back positive we conclude that God is treating us unfairly. We have a "right" to financial security and prosperity. So when we get handed a pink slip, we think God has slipped up somehow. We deserve a trouble-free life. So when the storms of life blow through, we grumble against God and his oversight of our lives.

But the Bible says that God always does what is right. So if there’s a discrepancy between my expectations and the reality, then the problem isn’t with the quality of God’s justice. The problem is with my expectations, my inflated idea of what God owes me. God is good all the time.

God is good to us. I could quote literally dozens of verses to make the same point. Most of us could think of examples in our lives of how God has been good to us. God is good to his people. But if that’s true, then why do we doubt? Why do we wonder whether God is really good? Because we lack God’s perspective. We lack his wisdom and knowledge and understanding. Sometimes the work God is doing in our lives doesn’t seem good at all. It just seems painful and destructive. We look at what’s happening and say, "How could this possibly be anything but bad?" We don’t understand, and so we resist and rebel. But here’s the key: God loves us so much that he is willing to do what is necessary in our lives to bless us, even if we can’t understand or appreciate it. He is willing to do what is in our long-term interest; He is willing to seek our eternal good, even at the cost of short-term pain. God loves us enough not to stop when we complain or protest, but to continue working in our lives even when we resist and complain.

God doesn’t ask us to understand. He only asks us to believe that he is good, and to trust, and follow, and obey. He asks us to believe that the end result is worth the pain and struggle, to believe that he knows what he’s doing, to be willing to place our confidence in him rather than in ourselves or our own understanding. Will you do that today?