Sunday, May 18, 2008
"Is God Always Good?"

“God is Good - all the time.
All the time - God is good.”

Do we really believe this? We see many things that seem to deny that God is good: China earthquake, Midwestern and southern tornadoes. Diseases. Death. Demise. When bad happens instead of good, is God still good?

A man was cutting trees for firewood and one tree landed on top of him. He broke some ribs, punctured a lung and crushed some vertebrae in his back. A pastor visited him and told the man that he would be praying for him. To that the man commented, “Where was God a few days ago?” The minister replied, “The very fact that you are alive to question God’s presence and care show that God was indeed around and even providing help.” If we are still here to question, then it stands to reason that God is at least good enough to keep a body alive.

This man will mend completely. What about when injuries don’t mend, or diseases aren’t healed or when help doesn’t come? What about something as bad as, let’s say, a concentration camp? Let’s take a page from Corrie Ten Boom’s diary. Corrie and her family were put in a German concentration camp during World War II and faced the worse examples of human hatred.

“Often I have heard people say, ‘How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!’ Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. ‘No, Corrie,’ said Betsie, ‘He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.” ” Corrie concludes, “There is an ocean of God’s love available—there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love—whatever the circumstances.” (Source unknown)

How does someone write that?

Let’s take another example. One of God’s faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior. Despite his troubles, he said, “While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me.”

In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.”(Source unknown)

How does someone write that?

Let’s put this a little closer to home. If Susan’s car accident would have led to loss of health or worse, would God still have been good?

That depends on what you think of God! The ability to believe that God is good regardless of what happens is based on a right understanding of God’s nature. Is God good? Is God’s nature always a good nature? Let’s see!

The psalmist thought God was good:
1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting (Psalms 107:1).

2 I said to the LORD, “Thou art my Lord; I have no good besides Thee” (Psalms 16:2).

You cannot have goodness without God, just as you cannot have God without goodness. Romans draws a divide between us and God when it comes to goodness: “there is no one good, no not one” in and of themselves.

When Jesus was called a “good teacher” he replied: “There is only one who is Good.” True goodness cannot be understood apart from God.

James mentions that every good and perfect gift is from above (1:17). God is good. He gives good things. And yet, we still have the problem of bad or evil. This is presented in the second chapter of the first book of the Bible – God planted a tree in the garden – a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve would go on to disobey God and forever change the course of human history. A disobedient decision in the Garden of Eden put us in a world where pain – sometimes terrible pain – is a stark reality.

Humanity is paying the price for the original sin. Romans says as much: one man sinned and because of that, all have sinned.

God is good, and apart from Him we are not good. But with God in us through Christ, we can do good things. It was part of our original nature to be good. And if we can do good things for Christ’s sake, our goodness can lead others to a good God.

Wayne gave me a card from the Terry Tekyle seminar on prayer. The card gives directions on how to pray for the lost. One of the requirements is asking God to change your actions so that others can see God at work in you. Our good acts in Christ will lead to the one who is truly, fully good.

The fruit of the spirit is goodness. The word for goodness in Galatians 5:22 is “agathose.” Do you know anyone named “Agatha?” This is the same word. Implied in its meaning is “action” – works of goodness. Some translations use the word “generosity.” This spiritual fruit is talking about works of goodness fueled by God working in a person. We are talking about good works – not as a means of earning God’s approval – but as the result of God living in a heart. It is a spiritual fruit – one of 9 characteristics visable in the life of a Christian. It is an inheritance from the Father – a way of living because Christ is present.

It is also a profound perspective based on Romans 8:28 – all things work for good. A believer will know in their heart of hearts that God uses every situation to produce a greater good – sometimes seen, sometimes unseen.

This is the way it was for Randy Hoyt. He stood by helpless as his wife Kris went into the hospital for an emergency Caesarean section operation when only 5 months pregnant. As the doctors battled to save her life Randy cried out to God "God, what do you want? I know you can heal her; why don't you?"
God didn't heal her. Randy was left the single parent of six children.
"What about our plans, God?" he asked. "Who will teach the kids, guide them, and love them like their mother?"
Randy soon found out. A program was started which became known as "Help Bring Hope to the Hoyt Kids." Over the next six months, hundreds of people worked, sent money, donated meals and supplies and poured love into Randy's family. Randy received more than 500 letters, e-mails and cards from people who said they were praying for them.
At the end of the six months the medical bills were all paid, the mortgage has been paid and Randy is back at work. God did not save his wife, but God's love was ministered to Randy and his children in deeply profound ways after Kris' death.
The pain of Kris' departure remained. Yet when he started to sink into despair Randy could imagine the two of them in heaven together, fully alive, healthy and full of joy. "See her as she is now," he felt the Holy Spirit saying. "She is alive."
Reflecting upon his experience Randy says, "I asked God for the life of my wife; I received instead a lesson on the nature of God. God is good. Armed with that knowledge, I have no fear for today or the future. God will always be enough…for any situation." (Source: reported by Randy Hoyt, "Seeing God," Pentecostal Evangel, January 21, 2001, pp.14-15)

But the fruit of the spirit is…goodness…