Is God Really Good?
Is God really good? Can we trust that what He has in mind for us is for our genuine benefit and happiness? In the end, will all really be well…and can we trust that? And finally, how do we reconcile our desire to believe He’s good, with the struggle within that casts doubt, fear, and unbelief in our individual worlds wherein there is so much that is not good?
As a follower of Christ, believer, pastor, pastor’s wife and truth seeker, I’ve wrestled on and off with these question for years. While my mind believed and my mouth confessed of God’s goodness, in an effort to live an honest and authentic life, I’ve been forced to admit that at times I wrestle with the validity of this broken declaration. That although His goodness was definitely evident, glimpses of Him are sometimes accompanied by times of discouragement, heartache, disappointment, even perceived abandonment, in which authentically owning the belief that He was good, has limped at best.
Jesus’ statement that “No one is good except God,” at times has left me wondering if it is even possible to grasp the width, height and depth of His goodness and love? If He’s that good, what does that good look like? How can I even comprehend it?
Then there’s the really awful stuff - sickness, trauma, and death. Is God good then? Remembering that in our humanity, we tend to see things finitely, brings sober judgment to this struggle, as there’s a forever-we’ll-never-ever-die eternity in which we will one day be a part and in which His goodness prevails. And as with my inability to fully grasp the goodness of His good, my inability to fully comprehend the vastness of eternity with Him is something that I must take into consideration.
He may not deliver me from my pain or sickness, but there is absolutely no doubt that He will indeed walk through it with me – leading, guiding, comforting. He will never leave or forsake me. He will never abandon me. He will never leave you either.
He beckons me to immerse myself, overcoming all of the frailties of my humanity, inabilities, and fears when it comes to completely resting in His goodness. Owning my present condition, that of humanity, gives me not only the grace, but the space, to more fully understanding the goodness of God – knowing that not understanding it is acceptable, understandable, even okay.
Can any of us fully understand just how “good” the goodness of God really is? I don’t think we can, for His goodness transcends not only our humanity, but our ability to fully grasp His loving, kind, generous, saving, mighty goodness and love.
If I believe that God is truly good, so good that I can’t even comprehend the goodness of His good…I believe and trust that my prayers which have been unanswered to my satisfaction to date, will in the end, all be taken care of by my mighty, powerful, good God. Choosing to believe that He is working behind the scenes on my behalf (goodness in its purest form), brings me peace. Resting in the position that He just might be saving me from something I cannot see ( goodness personified) brings me satisfaction. Believing that while all hell is breaking lose around me, He’s fighting back the forces of hell for my benefit, brings me security. Knowing that He is often saving me from myself – false perceptions, inadequate hopes, pain, suffering, or straight up unbelief, makes Him God, and me not. And that’s good no matter how you cut it.
Our lives may be altered, scarred, or even prematurely end, which hurts, is disappointing and disruptive,, and is frightening as heck. However, if I can remind myself of the goodness of God, whether it makes sense to me in the moment or not, I can rest in His divine goodness, His transformational grace, and His undeniable hope. And that, my friends trumps any doubt that I may experience.
So, is my God good? Yes, He is. All the time. And all the time, He is good.
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