God is Good... All the Time?

True or false: God is good when a new friend passes away before you get to know her. A child is abused for years by a parent and there is no justice in sight.  Someone close to you is unjustly forced to resign from their job.

True?

True?

True?

Anyone who grew up as a child of the church knows the phrase “God is Good, All the time… All the time, God is good”. Perhaps more popular than “Peace be with You”, or “Thanks be to God”.

Yet acknowledging that we have a good God means what? We have a good God who… doesn’t care enough to stop the car accident? Sits and watches pain?  William Young writes in his novel The Shack that we have no clue what God saves us from on a day-to-day bases. No clue how much he DOES intervene for on our behalf. We do not witness that. Instead we make the hospital trips and have the 96-hour worry fests, we say its all part of HIS plan when the doctors cannot explain why they lost their baby.

Where is this Good God you speak of? Sure, we know that we let sin enter the world and everything has to run its course. Jesus came to give us life in the midst of everything and to the fullest. Someday in the future it will be better than okay. La de da de da, yes, that is a beautiful gift, nothing can express how gracious our Father is when it comes to Grace. But the world hurts now, the pain is today, the tears still come.

God is Good.

During fellowship this evening we were watching candles, meditating on the idea of God’s creation and how beautiful and good God is.

One of my students made the comment that only in the stillness can you witness God’s beauty (I have very wise students).  Reflecting on this I realize how true and raw that statement is. The opposite of the worlds crazy fast pace mess is tranquility. In stillness you see the colors of the sunrise, the glory of a flower, the smile of a friend. In the midst of everything God gives us a tangible hope, something that we can witness, proof of his goodness.

Last fall I spent the night on the dock at CBS, in the morning I woke up to the most beautiful sight I have yet to witness in all my 20 years. In front of me were all of the colors of the sunrise, fully displayed, all of our Fathers glory. But that was not all, God did not stop there. As I turned around, behind me the night was still dark. Orion danced in the sky behind me shinning bright. I’ll save my special love for Orion for another blog, but needless to say. Wow.

God is good.

All the Time.

Not just because of beauty and hope, but also because of Love.

One of my favorite movies, produced by Neil Gaiman (also wrote the BEST comic ever) is Stardust.  Towards the end of the movie Yvaine mentions why she still watched the earth, “All those wars. Pain, lies, hate... It made me want to turn away and never look down again. But when I see the way that mankind loves... You could search to the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful.” God gives us love.

God does not just give love.

God is love.

Agape.

It means that when a friend dies, love brings her friends closer together. It means that when a child is abused, love from others will heal and create a real family. It means that God has better plans for us than we do for ourselves. It means that sicknesses will heal. Babies could still come.

Romans 8:28

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”