by Calven Celliers
One of my current favourite worship songs is Bethel Music’s “Goodness of God” and as you settle down to read this blog post I would encourage you to take 5 minutes to listen to it now. So, tap on link below, meditate upon these lyrics, and allow the truth of these words to fill your cup:
“1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.”
The beauty of this entire Psalm, never mind just this verse, is that it gives us opportunity to thank God for His goodness as we recount His faithfulness and praise Him for it. One commentary that I consulted as I prepared this post made the observation that this Psalm “contains nothing but praise. It is tuned to rapture, and can only be fully enjoyed by a devoutly grateful heart.”
Scripture never guarantees us a problem free existence. In fact, Jesus made it quite clear in the Gospel of John 16 that “33 …In this world you will have trouble…” (John 16:33NIV) and it’s when you’re in the middle of those tough times that you may very well find yourself asking, “If God is good, why does He allow bad things to happen?” This is a natural response when life is turned upside down. It’s hard to sing about a good Father when you’re slap bang in the middle of difficult circumstances.
I’ve personally found that the best way to overcome doubts about God’s goodness is to understand the importance of perspective. We have a ground-level, here-and-now perspective that doesn’t always take the full scope of reality into account. God, however, does. We have a snapshot of reality. God sees the big picture. He has the panoramic, wide-angle lens.
Even Jesus had to face difficult and painful things while on earth. He was tortured and endured a painful, unjust death. However, His death and resurrection made a way for us to be reconciled with God. Through something that seemed bad, God was able to do something very good.
Sometimes, you will be able to look back at painful seasons in your life and see how God ultimately used them for good. Other times, you will never fully understand the purpose of what you’ve had to endure. That’s when we have to trust that God sees more than we can see. He knows more than we know. He works in ways beyond our comprehension. And if we agree to follow Him only when we understand what He’s doing, we’ll always stop short of experiencing His inexplicable wonders.
We are living in a broken world, and sadly bad things do happen to good people, but I want to encourage you with the words of the apostle Paul in his letter to the Church at Rome:
“38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38 & 39NIV)
Despite what’s happening around us, or even to us, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.
The reason that Paul could say what he said, with such confidence, is because Jesus is alive. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father and He is interceding for you and me; His love is a moment-by-moment action to bring us to everlasting joy. Everything is under God’s sovereign control and the dominion of His Son; He works in and through all things for our good and His glory! No matter what’s happening around us, we can hold firmly to this truth, that nothing will ever separate us from the enduring love of God.
Whatever you’re facing today, my prayer is that you will remember that the goodness of God is running after you. He is always working for our good. His goodness surrounds us like a shield. The plans He has for us are good. He is abounding in grace towards us and He is committed to finishing all the good things that He has started in us. So may the words of your mouth boldly declare this day that God is Good, ALL THE TIME!
God bless you,
Calven
Amen,l always sees his grace to us