God is Good

 

Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian. When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, Corrie and her family became involved in hiding the Jews. Eventually, the Nazis arrested Corrie, her sister Betsie and their elderly father. Her father died ten days later. Corrie and Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Despite brutal conditions, abuse from guards, and the murder of prisoners around them, Betsie and Corrie ministered to the women in the camp, sharing the gospel from a small smuggled Bible.

Even as many fellow prisoners turned to Christ, Betsie fell ill. She told Corrie that they will both be free by New Year. Betsie died at Ravensbrück on December 16, 1944. On Christmas Day Corrie was miraculously released. After the war, Corrie traveled the world sharing her story and her faith in God. She touched millions of lives through books and speaking tours before dying on her ninety-first birthday. She often recalled Betsie’s hope-filled words: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.

Corrie endured greater hardship than many of us can imagine. But, she always remembered that no matter what happens, God is good and whatever he does is good. Here is an allegory she often told to illustrate this. When speaking, Corrie would hold up a cloth with a jumble of dark and light threads that were all haphazard and disorderly. Holding the cloth for all to see, Corrie would explain how that cloth represented what we can see of our life. Our lives look jumbled and often the dark seasons we endure (like the dark threads) make no sense.

Then she would turn the cloth around revealing an intricately embroidered crown. She would explain that God sees this side of the cloth and one day will reveal it to us. Those dark threads, or dark seasons of our lives, make no sense right now but one day we’ll see what God was up to. The dark threads are necessary to make the whole embroidery stunningly beautiful.Corrie used Grant Tuller’s poem “Life is but a weaving” to capture this allegory.

Tuller’s poem says, “my life is but a weaving between my God and me. Oft’ times we forget he sees the upper and I the underside. Not ’til the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly will God unroll the canvas and reveal the reason why. The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned. God knows, he loves, he cares; nothing can dim this truth. He gives the very best to those who leave the choice to Him”.

In Exodus 33:19-20 Moses boldly pleaded with God, "please, show me your glory". God's response was “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence”. God did not reveal his power or his justice or his wrath against sin. All those are truly aspects of God’s nature, but when he showed Himself to Moses he displayed his goodness. The goodness of God is the foundation of all his actions and interactions with his creation.

God is good, but what does that mean? The Bible defines God's goodness in two ways. One has to do with His character; the other focuses on His actions. Psalm 119:68 captures both when it says of God "you are good and what you do is good”. The first part talks about who he is. God is by nature good. We call all kinds of things good : food, friend, songs, movies etc. But, all that we call "good" on this earth is tainted and imperfect. Jesus said, "No one is good except God alone" (Mark 10:18).

The second part talks about what God does; whatever God does is good. The true character of a person is seen in his actions.  The Bible is filled with descriptions of God’s kindness, mercy, steadfast love and generosity. God is disposed to give to human beings beyond all deserving, all the time. God uses the natural blessings and his kind interventions to broadcast His goodness to us. The natural blessings is the lowest level at which He expresses His goodness and the one we tend to overlook or take for granted.  

Psalm 145 is David’s hymn of praise that celebrates God's goodness expressed in natural blessings. David starts the Psalm with the words “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. I will meditate on your wonderful works...I will proclaim on your great deeds". He closes the psalm with the words "my mouth will speak in praise of the Lord . Let every creature praise his name forever and ever".

Why is David so excited about God? It’s because he has made the following observations over time. He says to God “one generation commends your works to  another; they tell of your mighty acts. They tell of the power of your awesome works. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. All your works praise you, Lord your faithful people extol you . They speak of your might , so that all people may know of your mighty acts.

The Lord is gracious and rich in love.  The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. The Lord is near to all who call on him. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him.He hears their cry and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love him.

Psalm 107 talks about a good God who delivers his people when they get into trouble. The psalmist says "Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story”. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle... Let them give thanks to the Lord for … he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Some sat in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains, because they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the plans of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he ... brought them out of ... utter darkness and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for...he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he ...rescued them from the grave. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy. Some went out on the sea in ships; he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.

They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunkards; they were at their wits’ end. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. He guided them to their desired haven. Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people.

He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs. There he brought the hungry to live and they founded a city where they could settle. They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest; he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased and he did not let their herds diminish. Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.”

Behind the vastness of this universe stands a God who cares about what he has made. He is not indifferent or absent, but he is fully involved for the good of the universe. James 1:17-18 says that every good and perfect  gift comes from God. The verse also says that God does not change like shifting shadows. The God of the Bible times is our God ; who he was then he still is today and what he was doing then he is still doing today. God is still good and all he does is good.

God is still good even when we do not understand what he is doing. God was good he provided water to Hagar when she desperately needed it (Gen 21:14-20). God was good when he made a way for his people through the red sea (Ex. 14:21-29). God was good when he protected his people through the dangerous desert until they finally settled in Canaan (Deut.8). God was good when he saved Mordecai’s life and the Jewish race from extermination (Esther 7-8).

God was good when his friend Abraham lived without a heir for 100 years (Gen 21:5) until he lost hope (Gen 15:1-3). God was good when the righteous Job lost everything (Job 1:13-22).  God was good when John the Baptist was beheaded (Mark 6:14-29). God was good when Stephen was stoned to death (Acts 7:59-60). God was good when Paul was tortured for years (2 Cor.1:8-10; 11:23-29) and finally killed for the gospels sake (2 Tim.4:6-8).

Our heavenly Father wants us to enjoy with gratitude the good things He has provided for us in this world. He “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Tim. 6:17). God gave His people the “good things” of the land of Canaan. We must never repeat the mistake the Israelites made. In Nehemiah 9:25, 35 we read that even while they were enjoying God’s great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land he gave them, they did not serve him or turn from their evil ways.

Heaven the city of fullest joy awaits us, but God wants us to enjoy all His goodness as we journey homeward. We certainly must not disregard the daily mercies and the rich bounties our Father gives to us. The goodness of God is a foundational truth every Christian should embrace. Occasionally it’s important to spend a few quiet moments looking back over our lives to review how indebted we are to God for His goodness and mercy.

We sometimes long for a dramatic display of God’s glory and power to show that he is with us. But he wants me to see him in his little displays of goodness, which he demonstrates every day in hundreds of acts of mercy and compassion. We experience these serendipities every single day because of one unchanging truth that permeates every crease of reality: God is good! The “earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” (Ps.33:5).

May God open your eyes to his many acts of goodness so you’ll never doubt his presence and his love.  Ask God to lead you into all the truth about His goodness and yield yourself to the truth he illuminates. Join the psalmist in saying “ you are good and what you do is good; teach me your decrees” (Ps.119:68).  Always give thanks to the Lord, for he is good (Ps. 118:29). Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise! ...For the Lord is good and His love is eternal" (Ps. 100:4-5)