God is good all the time
He put a song of praise in this heart of mine
God is good all the time
Through the darkest night, His light will shine
God is good, God is good
all the time
Songwriters: Graham Kendrick
“God is good”. This is a statement that is easy to say when things are going well but so difficult to say when bad things happen. Nevertheless, it does not make it less true. God is indeed good…on rainy days and rosy days.
The reason why I can say this is because God being good is not just a quality He has but also His nature (Psa. 107:1). When we consider the other qualities God has like love, kindness, and patience, it is safe to conclude that He is indeed good.
If Mr. A is kind to Mr. B and Mr. B reciprocates with kindness, we say Mr. B is a good man. This seems very transactional to me but that’s how superficially we have taken the meaning of good to be. Jesus understood the depth of the word’s meaning and said only God is good. (Mk. 10:18)
If Mr. A stopped being kind to Mr. B and Mr. B returned the “favor”, we may justify Mr. B’s actions or decide to stop seeing him as a good man. God, on the other hand, has never stopped being kind to us. Even when we were deep deep in sin, He loved us. Even when we knew what we were doing was hurtful to Him, He stretched out His hand to us. Even when we disregarded Him, He sent Jesus to die for our sins. This is what only someone good can do. (Rom. 5:8)
Someone once asked me why I attribute good happenings to God and leave out bad occurrences. I found this question very intriguing and valid. Here’s my answer. If I want to learn anything about physics, I will have to go to physics resource materials and textbooks to read about it. If I want to learn anything about Mahatma Gandhi, I will read books he has written and books people have written about him, his biography, and things like that. In the same vein, if I want to learn about God, I had better pick up His book. The Bible gives us details from thousands of generations about God’s nature and His predisposition to different situations.
In the Bible, I have learned that God is good (Psa. 145:9). The Bible also tells me that every good gift comes from God (Jam. 1:17). Because the Bible is a reliable book to tell me about God, I can believe hook, line, and sinker that every good thing that has ever happened to me is from God.
Another thing that solidifies my belief–and should solidify yours–is the words of testimony. In the law court, in police stations, in history classes, and on the news, we glorify the place of the testimony of witnesses. Eye witness reports are taken as sacred and valid. Why should they be disregarded when it comes to spiritual things? If I can take the word of men and history books as valid that George Washington was a good man or the Buddha was very down to earth, why can’t I take the Psalmist’s declaration that God is good as valid?
The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
Psalm 145:9 ESV
The next question that follows is “Why does a good God allow evil” or “Why is there so much evil in the world if God is good”? The simple answer is that God doesn’t control man’s decisions (Deut. 30:19). As far back as in the Garden of Eden, God let man choose whether to obey or disobey (Gen. 2: 15-17). As obedience has its rewards, disobedience has its consequences. In Cain’s case, the consequence of his disobedience was–unfortunately–his brother’s death and his own banishment (Gen. 4:6-8; 10-16). God did not kill Abel. Cain killed Abel because he chose to. The same applies to every other evil that has happened in this world. Yes, some people may lie and hide under the umbrella that “God told me to” or that they were doing it for God but it is a lie. God is good and He will not stand for evil.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5 ESV
God will also not stand evil. The last time God instructed a “purge” was in the days of the Old Testament and that was because of the extremely evil practices of those in that time–like child sacrifices–and also as a means of preserving the good people. Moreover, that was only allowed by God in that time and period. When Jesus came, the Jews expected Him to be the military man who would war their way to victory but that was not God’s style. The way God chose was more holy and more sacred.
Back to the point, God is good and does no evil (Jb. 34:12). Evil happens because man chooses it. Don’t get the two mixed up. God gave us free will and that’s one of the things that makes us an intelligent species. However, He directs us on the choices to make so we don’t use our free will to hurt others. Are there times when God intervenes? Yes. But if He intervenes all the time, will man really have free will?
One thing every believer can hold on to is that God causes all things to work together for good (Rom. 8:28). So what happened doesn’t necessarily have to be good but God can use it for a good cause. Joseph was sold to slavery by his brothers. That’s very depressing. But, God turned it around for his good. God allowed that evil and worked it into good. Although evil is a perversion of God’s goodness, it does not stop God’s purposes.
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Genesis 50:20 NKJV
Bad times test our faith. If we can still hold on to our confession of God’s goodness in such times, we display how much we trust God and believe in Him. It takes a great level of trust and faith to say God is good even in the bad times. I have a different level of respect for people who suffer great loss or great troubles and still latch on to God. Such people understand that God is the only correct coping mechanism and He is the only one who gives assurance of eventual and eternal peace. I learned this only recently.
It may look really bad now. Things may be terribly rough now. But don’t let it all distract you from what remains true and the same; the goodness of God. Let’s hold on to our confession, God is good all the time and all the time, God is good.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Psalm 34:8 ESV
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