In my years of suffering, I’ve had to beg God for His logical wisdom found in His Word. Since the Genesis 3 fall, our enemy hisses crafty lies that God is not good. Satan, the embodiment of evil, wants to make us doubt God’s goodness when we suffer. Let’s battle the lies together today as we watch the horrors of evil everywhere. Is God still good? How can He be?
God is So Good
God plainly tells us that He is good. Over and over, He tells us to “give thanks to the Lord, for He is good” (e.g., Ps. 106, 107, 118, 136; 1 Chron. 16:34). Jesus tells us God alone is good (Mk. 10:18), Zechariah says His goodness is great (9:17), and Nahum reminds us the Lord is good, even in “the day of trouble” (1:7).
How good is the God we adore!
Our faithful, unchangeable friend.
(“This God is the God we adore,” Hart, J., 1857)
What does “good” mean?
Ah, is that the hard thing?
If God is always good and He always does good because that’s who He is, how does my trouble fit?
In the Hebrew and Greek, the word “good” can mean pleasurable, but it also means something is valuable, with beneficial purpose. It’s useful and upright. When God originally created all things, He called them “good.” In His perfectly created Eden, all was good, pleasurable, and useful. But, since the fall of Genesis 3, we now live in a sin-infested world in which we desperately need to “hold fast to what is good” (Rom. 12:9) as we endure things that don’t feel good.
The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Beloved, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news for us, all of us born as sinners into this sin-full world, we’ve experienced God’s goodness. Because God brought us to Jesus as our Redeemer and Friend, He’s given us what is supremely good. As we wait for His future restoration back to perfect and pure goodness and His elimination of sin and evil, we do walk through earthly trials…but as beloved children of a loving and good Father, in Christ.
His love is as great as his power
and knows neither measure nor end.
Consider the goodness of God, the goodness of His grace and gift, as Jesus took our place on the cross. It was horrific as our beloved Savior suffered our punishment on “Good” Friday. But it was valuable and necessary, far beyond any measure we would call good.
God’s Good Purposes for His Children
Therefore, anything our “always-good, unchanging-in-goodness” Father allows us to suffer, though it is an evil thing, He means it for His good purposes (Gen. 50:20). “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28, emphasis added). God’s goodness never changes, so this suffering must have a good purpose for us, in His always-good hands.
I have to believe His Word when the enemy tries to make me doubt His goodness. I have to cling to this and refute the lies with the gospel, when my pain is strongest. He promises there will be something good from this because my Heavenly Father is good, all the time. Perhaps I can’t see the good in my suffering today, and maybe I won’t on this side of heaven (my abundantly good true home with Him!), but it’s such a comfort to know my good and loving Father has valuable and beneficial purposes in my trials.
So, on the hardest days of suffering, let’s both bring our agony to our always-loving and always-good Father. Let’s ask Him for Scriptures that help us refute the lies of the enemy. Let’s ask Him to help us see a glimpse of His good purposes in this suffering. For me, this Scripture is one of them, because it’s something He’s done as I suffer with chronic illness and seek His Word in desperation: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes” (Ps. 119:71, emphasis added). He’s brought me yet closer to His tender voice in His Word. Yes, it’s been very good.
Dear sister in Christ, let’s both rest in His promise that He will indeed work all things, even this hard suffering, together for good. Let’s trust our always-good Father today and keep battling the lies.
For Christ is the first and the last;
his Spirit will guide us safe home;
we’ll praise him for all that is past
and trust him for all that’s to come.
Material adapted from Near to God: A Devotional Bible Study of God’s Character in Our Suffering, Lauri A. Hogle. Copyright © 2022, Singing Christ’s Hope.
A Playlist to Sing “God is So Good”
People have asked me about the ministry of Singing Christ’s Hope, especially those who are now watching me battle with physical symptoms again. Yes, I’m writing but I think the main gift is the music itself! I can’t begin to tell you how much our good God is using His music to help me attack the lies of our enemy in my own suffering, right now! In my illnesses, there are moments I can’t read or think, so it’s Christ-exalting, Scripture-filled music that has been His good gift to me to help me endure. It is such a joy to share the music with you!
The weekly playlists have become His great encouragement to endure suffering with faith, as they accompany and help us respond to Scriptures in these short writings. This week, I’m praying that singing of God’s goodness shown to us in Jesus Christ will be His gift to you. If you’d like a YouTube playlist (with lyrics so you can sing) to join me in fighting our enemy’s lies and trusting in God’s goodness with hope, sign up here and let’s sing together!
