season 1//episode 8: is God good? Really?
Welcome back, friends! I am so glad you’re here and hope that whatever you’re doing today, that you are being filled with joy.
Today we are going to unpack this statement: God isn’t good.
Growing up in the church, there was a saying that we all knew how to answer. It goes like this—when you say, “God is good,” we answer, “All the time.” And then you will likely say, “All the time?” to which the answer is, “God is good.”
I want us to think about this for a little bit. As we consider the statement, “God is good,” there may be some feelings that come up for us. In our heads, we may know this is true. But our hearts may be telling us a different story. When we hear this statement, we may feel angry. Frustrated. Sad. Betrayed. Or indifferent.
You may be thinking something like this:
God didn’t feel good when my dad died.
God didn’t feel good when I lost my job.
God didn’t feel good when my last single friend got married and left me feeling lonely. Again.
God didn’t feel good when my child was bullied.
God didn’t feel good when I got breast cancer.
But what does good mean?
Well, good can be used as an adjective or a noun. For those of you who do not love grammar as I do, let me give you a quick refresher on the parts of speech. An adjective is a word that describes a noun. A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.
So back to the definition of good—
Good as an adjective means
“to be desired or approved of”
OR
“having the qualities required for a particular role”
As a noun, it means,
“that which is morally right; righteousness”
OR
“benefit or advantage to someone or something”
I want us to take a look at what good means in light of what Scripture says.
Psalms 84:11-12 NLT says, “For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you.”
I remember stumbling upon this verse in the midst of my singleness. I thought to myself, “Ok, I know that marriage is God’s idea, which means it is good. I know that I love God and walk uprightly, so I must be one of those who will receive this gift from Him!”
In my reasoning and rationale, it made perfect sense why God would choose to bless me with the gift of marriage. The same applied when after getting married, I believed God would bless me with a biological child. This also was a good thing, was it not?
But let’s look at what God’s definition of good is.
The cross-reference for this verse is Psalm 34:9-10, but I have to start at verse 8, which says,
““Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!
and then verses 9-10, which say, “You who are his holy ones, fear the Lord, for those who fear him lack nothing. Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.”
Do you see the promise of God? When we seek Him, He does not hold back that which is good from us.
But when we consider His plan and purpose for us, we need to consider the definition of what is good with the eyes of the spirit, not the flesh.
In our flesh, we consider that which is good to be all that brings us comfort and ease. We want to amass more material things, have well behaved children, a perfect marriage, and a fulfilling job. But apart from Christ, these things are meaningless.
That which is good is often that which hurts us, because that which is good is what makes us more like Christ. God’s plan is not for us to find the fulfillment of our dreams and to have all that we ever asked for here on earth. Jesus said in Matthew 6 on the Sermon on the Mount, ““So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:31-34 CSB
So how do we trust that God is good and that He desires good for us? Well, we have to look at everything that comes to us in light of His Word.
It seems simplistic, doesn’t it? To base your entire life off of a book that was written thousands of years ago? But when we truly question the goodness of God, we are really questioning this—can He make good out of the ruins of my life? If He is truly good, will He redeem all that has been lost?
The truth is that we will never know the answers for some of the things that happen to us here on earth. The world will tell us that a kind and loving God would not allow awful things to happen to us. The world will tell us that if there is a person or situation that is not quote “serving us,” then we need to walk away from it. I can tell you that there were many times I have wanted to walk away from situations that were no longer quote “serving me.” I have been in situations that were so difficult, I thought I would crumble under the weight of it all.
When we first began fostering, we welcomed three elementary aged siblings into our home. It was the hardest thing we had ever done at that point in our lives, and there were many people who congratulated us for being so kind and generous. There were others who questioned our sanity. And when things got really tough, many said, “Why don’t you just give up?”
Through the tantrums, the questioning, the difficulties with birth parents, and false accusations from the county office, we endured. Not because we were special or because we were some type of martyrs. But because we knew that this was ultimately for our good and for the glory of God. Looking back, we wondered if we held on too long. But months later, we would see God work miraculously in the lives of those children in ways that were completely apart from us. We didn’t do anything all that crazy—all we did was obey. And God did the rest.
Jesus said that He came not to be served, but to serve. This doesn’t mean that we wear ourselves thin to the point where we do not care for ourselves. We do not neglect our own souls for the sake of another’s. But our purpose is not to walk through life, searching for that which can fulfill us and strengthen us. We already have that in Christ. Thus, our purpose is to walk through life, hand in hand with Him, trusting that in all things, He is good—whether or not our circumstances say so.
SCRIPTURE
Psalm 84:11-12
Psalm 34:8-10
Matthew 6:31-34
LINKS
Encouragement for foster parents:
Fostering Prayer
Praying for Your Foster Children
Encouragement for when you’re not sure if God is good:
An Overwhelming Hope
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