Thursday

The Hidden Goodness of God

If God is good, how do we explain all the evil that happens to good people? How do I as a believer respond when my family, when godly people, are struck with unspeakable evil.

In the book of Job, we as readers get to peek behind the scenes of Job's torment, and we see what he does not: that it is Satan who does the work, and that he is inspired to do it by God's boasting of Job's righteousness. The book ends with the un-enlightened Job accusing God of the evil done to his family, and demanding an explanation for that evil. God's evasive answer is very enlightening.

God accepts the blame.

At no point in the book does Job learn that it was not God's hand that killed his family and destroyed his livelihood. God's answer can be boiled down to two arguments:

1) Job, you aren't big enough to understand, and

2) as a sovereign God, don't I have the right to take sovereign action?

It was only when Job understood those points that his fortunes were again reversed.

I conclude that I, like Job, am not big enough to understand all that goes on in the heavenlies. I know my Father is good. I know that He will bring something that His omniscience defines as "good" out of the tragedies that hit my life and the lives of the Cassie Bernals of the world. And I know that no matter what goes on, I can trust Him, even if I don't understand: justice will one day be done.

Oh yeah: I also know that when Satan steals from me and from mine, he owes me at least double for that theft. I don't need to stand there and suffer: my Daddy and I can fight back, and because we win when we fight, we can grab all the plunder I can carry from Satan's stinking, twisted fingers!!

God is good, but sometimes we have to apprehend that goodness by faith, not by our understanding.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I just heard Bob Johnson, Bill's brother, talking about the conversation he had with Papa. He was saying that he believed God was a good Father for Bill, or Kris, or others--but not so good for him. That Bob was a better dad.
And God responded that He agreed--given the perameters of Bob's evaluation. But He had plans that were beyond Bob's current understanding that He was preparing.
So sometimes Papa knows stuff we don't--and we can rest with Him--and 'laugh uproariously at the lies of the enemy.'
And expect God's goodness to come through the fog of our own perceptions. It's a character thing. My Daddy loves me--and He's bigger!

Hepzibah The Watchman said...

Wow - thank you for sharing that revelation about Job. Also, I needed reminding that I cannot know everything about God. I too had something stolen by Satan - but it is good to know that God will return double for our trouble. May God bless you - indeed.

Kevin Weatherby said...

I love how God spoke through you. I'm going to enjoy coming here everyday that I can.

I often think of when we moved the horses to another pasture. They stood there at the fence for so long, wanting to come back. How do you explain to them that you had to move them because the grass was running out and the pasture needed to rest a while.

They couldn't anymore understand that than we can understand why God allows some things to happen. Just trust in him and ride.

Anonymous said...

I so appreciate your viewpoint on this. So many people just want to blame God, but then, they block their own opportunity to experience healing and blessing, because He is the source of all good things! Blessings! Debbye G. debgraafsma.wordpress.com