God was so good (insert positive situation)

We hear it all the time, right? 

We hear of children being born, career advancement, physical healing, a good grade on a test, travel safety, a marriage union, answer to prayer...followed by "God was so good." The most personally beneficial, 'best', and happiest moments of our lives get that tag. Of course they do! They should. That's an accurate conclusion.

But it's incomplete. 

God's goodness is sourced in something much deeper than our perception of His activity.

And we should breathe a huge sigh of relief over that. Because if He was only good because of the favorable things He does for us, what happens when He does or allows something that, to our human understanding, is...bad? When God allows beloved family members to die unexpectedly. When He allows close friends to wither away with cancer. When He keeps people single or allows a difficult marriage. When there's disability or a job ends before another begins. When He gives a thorn in the flesh. 

There will be times when what is happening in our lives cannot be quantified as good. There will be no mental gymnastics flexible enough to bear the weight of those trials. It will fall beyond our human ability to call something good. Beyond our human comprehension that it could be. 

So how can Job observe God's hand behind the unraveling of his life, and in the same breath bless Him? How can Mary comprehend the possible social repercussions of her pregnancy and respond with "My soul magnifies the Lord"? I mean, what is Paul thinking when he surrounds his debilitating thorn in the flesh with words like "pleasure," "power" and "glory?" How can David, God's chosen ruler, pen "Be thou exalted, O God, above the Heavens" huddled in a cave hiding from the current, wacko king who's bent on chopping his head off? And then there's Hosea: commanded by God to marry a harlot and told in advance that she will be unfaithful. Yet every chapter he authors circles back to God's steadfast loving kindness. 

I think I know why. These Biblical characters knew we don't have to look to how God's activity appears as the foundation for our trust. We have to know Who He is to trust. They looked beyond the doing to who's hand was doing the doing. It's the hand of Yahweh. And from front to back, our Bibles declare Him good. That's what led these people to such thrilling and active displays of faith and trust. They were not evaluating God's goodness on how favorable His activity was for them, but on His revealed character. Which led them in the what-seems-very-bad to say 'God is very good.'

A good God will work only good in our lives. That's true. But we are not called to comprehend that good. We are called to taste and see that GOD is good. To believe what His Word says about Him. There's a whole lot of freedom in that truth. It takes the pressure off of us to figure it out. It provides a sure band of stability when faced with circumstances that do not seem in our favor. And it frees our hearts and tongues to cry out in every season and situation of life:

God is so good. 

Beth