Category: Goodness

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God is Good

Dear Sister,

Lately, I have found myself squirming in my seat when I respond, “God is good!”  Why do I squirm?  Because I type or say that when times are good and when times are bad. Just last night, I stopped to ask myself am I being a hypocrite?  No, seriously—is this an appropriate comment at all times or am I just fooling myself and using God’s name incorrectly?

After some introspection, I concluded the comment is absolutely appropriate at all times. Here is why:  God created the world.  He created man and woman.  After every day of creation, He said, “It is good!”  He didn’t make a single thing that required a “do over.”  After finishing His creative processes, He blessed Adam and Eve with the privilege of joining Him in managing this new, perfect world and in doing some creating of their own (“be fruitful and multiply”).

Thus far, all was good in the garden where God placed them, life was perfect.  Then woman and man used the good freedom God gave them to choose selfishness.  With one bite of forbidden fruit sin entered the world.  Humankind had ONE law to follow and we failed.  Now, daily, we fail abundantly.  To my sorrow, I choose self over God with tremendous ease.

Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ He provided a way of escape from this cycle of death!  Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, I can say, “God is good!” at all times, for though I may be walking through the valley of the shadow of death that I richly deserve (and more besides), He is with me.  I may be profusely showered with blessings despite my sins, and again, He is so very good!

I, we, deserve nothing but condemnation and death.  Yet even while we wallowed in the mire, God gave us the life and blood of His Son and many other blessings besides.  Our very breath is a gift.

God       Is      Good,    Indeed!

Running with you,

Rebecca

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Naomi ~ Hoping in God’s Goodness

Dear Sister,

I am the poster child for Worrier-Extraordinaire. This is not a good thing. Not only does it cause me to fret and age before my time, those around me get to experience the fall out of wife/mom who is stressed, and (the most distressing part of this), NOTHING is accomplished.

I know this, yet I still worry and stress about things that have not happened, may never happen, and over which I usually have little to no control. However, I justify the worry by insisting I am planning, thinking ahead; or by replaying the wrong done to me (or by me), trying to craft a new outcome(?!). In searching the Word for another worrier, I found one who seemed fully justified in her worry and despair—Naomi. Her husband and sons were dead; and she was living in a culture alien, hostile to her own and during a time when women were not wage earners. She was staring into a bottomless pit. She even stated, “the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.” Ruth 1:13b.

Naomi was so wrapped up in her worry and despair that it took the faith and loyalty of her Moabite daughter-in-law for her to begin to see God’s goodness again. When Ruth came home from her first gleaning trip to Boaz’ fields, Naomi told Ruth, “…it is good my daughter, that you go out with his [Boaz’] maids…” (Ruth 2:22), this ‘good’ is not just a casual “ok”, but it has the connotations of beautiful, best, bountiful, joyful, precious, etc. In the midst of their darkness and sorrow, God had not forgotten, nor were His purposes thwarted. I wonder if Naomi now dances before the King, still wondering why she fretted when He had such magnificent plans for her family.

My family and I recently completed one of those military moves that are fun to joke about when they happen to someone else. I worried, fussed, pouted, and cancelled the move multiple times, yet it still happened. We did finally get a house and our goods arrived, we moved in and got on with the business of living. Yet, the worry and frustration still dogged me. I have come to the conclusion that I may never know what God’s plan was in all the intricacies and difficulties of the move, and that is ok. I can find the good—the beautiful, best, bountiful, joyful precious good He has for me right here, right now.

I am still a planner, but I will try to plan without brooding—communicating my thoughts and frustrations sooner than later. I can identify when I am wronged, not for the purpose of seeking justice for myself, but to determine how to forgive. Finally, I will be more like Ruth who simply got up and started working; and like Naomi, who began to dare to hope in God’s goodness. He is worthy of our hope, and gives abundantly to His children. “Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age…’” Ruth 4:14-15a.

Running with you,

Rebecca

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What If I’m Struggling to Believe He’s Good?

Dear sister,

I’ll never forgot what a faithful friend (Prov. 27:6) said to me when I was going through a rough spot several years ago- “Ruth, you really need to consider whether or not you believe God is good.” At that time, I had no idea what she meant, and really no desire to find out (it sounded like it would involve a lot of pain!), but the comment haunted me for a long time. Turns out, God was already planning on teaching me that very lesson, and was using those rough times to do just that. I’d imagine you’ve had seasons like that as well. The question of God’s goodness in the midst of suffering is one that has been discussed, debated, and agonized over throughout the centuries of the Christian faith. As author Joanna Weaver conveys in her book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, Martha started to wonder if Jesus really cared about her (Luke 10:40)…. maybe you’re wondering that too. I’m reminded of these everyday times of doubt in this quote of Weaver’s:

”Doubting God’s love doesn’t require tragedy. It can creep into the everyday just as insidiously, just as dangerously.”

Sweet sister, you don’t have to be going through a tough time to forgot God’s goodness—you need only to look to the last time you got ‘frustrated’ (a.k.a. angry) about not having any blessing you think you ‘deserve’. Believe me- I’m not preaching at you- I fall into that category almost everyday! As I’ve written here and elsewhere before, the best solution to an ungrateful, discontented heart is praise and thankfulness to God for His goodness! Lately, I’ve been asking God to give me the eyes to see His goodness in my daily life, expressly for the purpose of praising Him. I long to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), but the cares of this world and the desires of my flesh deaden my taste buds and dull my eyes, preventing me from truly rejoicing in the realities of who God is.

God can handle your doubts sister, but don’t live in unbelief. I’ve wasted too much time there, and believe me – the view is much better from where I sit now! God has and is doing a good work in me – a work that is transforming my doubtful heart, slowly, but surely. Ask Him to renew your belief in His goodness if you are struggling. It’s a prayer He delights to answer for your good and His glory.

Weaver reminds us: ”The fact is, until we stop doubting God’s goodness, we can’t experience His love.” God’s goodness is not affected by your lack of belief, but the fullness of His love will never be yours until you wrestle with this truth. In 2 Peter 1:3-4 we see that it is the knowledge of God’s goodness that gives us access to everything required for life and godliness! Remind yourself of His goodness daily! Satan loves to tempt us with the lie that God is holding out on us…. only us…. He slyly whispers that everyone else has that very thing we desire. It’s simply not true, my friend. In Psalm 145:9, we read: “The Lord is good to everyone; His compassion rests on all He has made.” I look forward to hearing your testimony of God’s great goodness in your life (Psalm 145:7). It won’t be long, for His goodness is already within you, around you, and leading you into every new day.

Resting in His goodness,
Your sister Ruth

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Goodness In Every Season

My Dearest Sister,

As I sit in the field behind my apartment and enjoy the beautiful New York summer afternoon, I cannot help but reflect on the wonder of God’s creation. The songbirds chirp softly to each other as a honey bee darts from the Queen Anne’s Lace to a cluster of dandelions near where I am relaxing in the warm sunlight. There is a light breeze that washes over everything, making the cattail reeds dance and the trees whisper. I am reminded of the passage in Genesis where God finishes each of His creations by calling it good. Surely on a day like this, it would be impossible to disagree with such a conclusion. However I know in about six months this landscape will look completely different. When the flowers, birds, and sunshine have all been replaced by bare trees, gray skies, and three feet of snow on the ground, will I still be praising His creation? Honestly, probably not as readily as I am right now.
In our daily lives, our praise to God seems to work in a similar manner. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to thank God for His goodness when things are going just the way you wanted? When our family is healthy, our home is happy, and our relationships are blossoming, it seems so natural to have an attitude of thankfulness. However, when the storms of life roll in and all we can see is gray skies, that thankful demeanor tends to change. Maybe we receive bad news about a loved one, are facing challenges at work or in our marriage, or maybe we are just going through a season of spiritual dryness, a “wintertime” of the soul. Whatever the trial may be, praising God for His goodness is often the last thing on our mind.
But it shouldn’t be that way, dear sister. Even in the times when we seem to be caught up in a harsh winter season of life, we can trust in the Lord’s goodness toward us. Romans 8:28 says that “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” All things, not just those that make us happy and joyful. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how those storms and struggles could be a part of God’s design for our life. For example, if you had told me five years ago that today I would be married to a man in the Army, living over a thousand miles away from all my family, and still haven’t finished college, I would have said you were crazy. That’s not the plan I had mapped out for myself at all. However, as verse 28 says, this goodness is ultimately for His purpose. God’s ways are not our ways so His plan for our good sometimes includes challenges filled with sadness, disappointment, frustration, or loneliness. But that should be okay with us because you know what? Even those storms have a place in God’s good design for us. The last five years have proven that to me because I can see how each unforeseen struggle has brought me to a closer, more intimate relationship with Him.
The best thing about this goodness, sister, is that it will never fail us, for it lies at the very core of who God is. His mercy, compassion, lovingkindness, patience – all the things that make Him Lord – are directly related to the fact that He is inherently good. It sets Him apart from every other being in the universe, making Him alone holy and worthy to be praised. The ultimate evidence of this goodness is shown in His blessed gift of salvation. Who else could love a sinful, wicked people enough to send His only precious Son to die an excruciating, humiliating death so that they could spend eternity with Him? My dear friend, we can never overestimate the goodness of the Lord. I don’t think we will even really understand it in its entirety until we meet Him face to face. But one thing is for sure: we can trust in His goodness always, because nothing, not even the darkest, coldest winters of our life, can take away this assurance we have of His eternal grace toward us. So let’s praise God in every season of life and beyond for His dependable goodness!

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” – Psalm 100:4-5

In His love,
~ Lauren

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His, Mine and Ours

Dearest Sisters in the Lord,
One of the most delightful and meditative ways for me to pray is to spend time dwelling on the characteristics of God, concentrating on Who He is, how magnificent His reign, how wonderful His works!

Come alongside me and we can pray this way together. We might one day focus on His incommunicable characteristics: holy, eternal, infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, abounding in grace. He alone possesses them and shares, or communicates, them with no one and nothing in His creation. Caveat, Dear Ones: when we meditate on these, be prepared to leave your prayer place totally breathless!

However, on another day, we may want to dwell on those characteristics of God that he does communicate, or shares, with us. Such would be love, joy, peace, patience, and goodness, those wonderful “fruits of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5. It is God’s faithful promise to us that when we receive Christ Jesus as our Savior, we begin to experience these special traits for ourselves, and we are, also, glad when we see them exhibited in others. We are made in His image, after all!

So, to start such a devotional today, let us consider goodness—God’s and ours, but we shall quickly discover but they are not one and the same; however, we can still enjoy the comparison and praise Him for any goodness that He places in us.

God’s goodness radiates from all that He is because He is God. His goodness is eternal, there was no beginning to it and there will be no end to it. The goodness in us might allow us to perform a noble deed, or extend an act of kindness—something easy to do when nothing has interfered with our time and no one has disturbed our space.

Unlike us, God’s goodness is infinite—there is no limit to it. The beauty of His creation reveals it to us daily—a captivating sunset, snow sparkling on the mountain, ripples in a stream, a baby’s first words, a familiar hymn, and, without more hesitation—chocolate! We can taste and see His goodness everyday and everywhere:
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Psalm 34:8

Where His goodness is everlasting, ours lasts until someone or something makes us angry, upset, annoyed, and, in arrogance, we refuse to be nice to anyone anymore! Have you ever had one of those days?

God’s goodness is holy. There is nothing unholy in Him. If there is any goodness that emanates from us, it often comes to light with some measure of pride and some need for a reward. What a great feeling to do something good for someone—whether they deserve it or not! We might not say it, but we sure can think it in our heart—just place the royal crown on my head right now!

Our goodness is unholy—pitiable, passing and puffing!

Sisters, I share these thoughts today, because it is so important to remember God’s goodness— and forget ours! The truth of the matter is that there is nothing good in us, unless we wear the robe of righteousness that Jesus Christ wove for us in His blood.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.
Isaiah 61:10a

Goodness belongs to God alone and His goodness is always accompanied by His glory—something Moses saw when God permitted him to in Exodus 33. Moses yearned to see God Almighty, and the God of all Grace rendered him the unsurpassable privilege of experiencing on earth His Shekinah glory, calling it His goodness while revealing His graciousness and mercy.

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
Exodus 33:19

We can only gasp with wonder and awe at the thought! Yet, someday, you and I will see the same in Heaven:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6

Ah, how good for us to linger on God’s Goodness for the rest of the day, and tomorrow, and the next day, and, indeed, for all the days of our life.

In His Grace and Goodness,
Mimi