IS GOD GOOD?
May 17, 2024
IS GOD GOOD?
Early in our lives - even as children - we often begin to question if God is really
good.
After all, if God is so good — why is church so boring?
Why is my brother so mean to me?
Why do I have to eat my vegetables? Can’t God just make me strong without them?
If God is good — why did my dog die?
Doubting the goodness of God sometimes takes even deeper root in us —
because we have seen the murder of a man — the molesting of women and
children — the mutilation of bodies by war or by choice — the tearing of babies
from the womb.
We have seen the emaciated bodies of men, women, and children without food
and water.
We have experienced our own selves violated — identities stolen — homes
broken — jobs lost — treatments failed or denied — friendships betrayed —
disease and death rampant in our world — and the greedy still crushing and
oppressing those weaker than themselves.
So we doubt the goodness of God. We ask: “If God is good — why does He
allow such evil? Why does He not stop it?!”
What is “evil” exactly? Dictionaries define it as “morally reprehensible: evil,
sinful, wrong.”
But what is it about an act or circumstance that causes us to define “evil” as
“evil, sinful, wrong”?
Is it not the violation of one person’s will by the will of another that we consider
“evil”? The more powerful forcing their will on the weaker? Is it not the bully
making the world miserable for the gentle? The strong killing the weak?
Would a person who is truly good violate you? Bully you? Kill you?
Would a God who is good violate you? Would He force you against your will just
because He has the power to do that?
No.
Because God IS good, He does not force His will on us to be good against
our will. Though He has the power to do so — He does not violate our person.
He does not violate the beautiful, free, responsive persons He designed us to be.
God will move all heaven and earth to bring us to a place where we hate evil and
want to chose His goodness — but He does not force us. He patiently and
persistently woos us with His love and invites us to respond.
Just look around. Even in the midst of evil — God’s goodness abundantly
surrounds us in the warmth of the summer sun, the refreshing of spring showers,
the beauty of sparkling winter snows, the rich color of autumn leaves — the blue
of the sky — the deep red of a rose — when He could have made our world all
black and white — or never day and always night.
Feel the gentle breezes — the comfort of a hand on yours. Hear the singing of
the birds — the laughter of children. See the beauty in life and know He is good.
So what of the evil that intrudes on that goodness and forces its hand on our
lives — violating and wounding us against our will?
Oh, sometimes we wish the free will of man was not so important to God — why
He allows a person to chose evil instead of good — yet we know in ourselves it
must be so — that the free will to choose is a precious gift to us as humans —
because God IS good.
God desires love and grace and goodness to spring up freely from our hearts —
in response to His love and grace and goodness.
Those who refuse to respond to His goodness — and raise a defiant fist against
Him — fall by choice into darkness — and bind their souls to misery and evil —
and bring that evil upon those around them.
Yet, even then, hope remains — because God IS good. Even in the deepest
pain and darkest of circumstances — He is with us with comfort and hope.
Delicate flowers still press their smiling faces up through concrete — spring still
blooms with life after the deep cold of winter — sunrise still comes after the dark
of night — sunsets with a blaze of color across our skies still stir our souls to
believe love and goodness reigns above the evil.
Wounds still heal, miracles are born, the lost find their way home, there’s hope
and comfort in a smile, and broken hearts are made whole.
Yes, hope remains — even when we lose sight of it — because God IS good —
and His goodness will not fail.
Let those who doubt — look a little higher and see this God — who in the face
of evil and defiant fists raised against Him — remains good. He still causes the
sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
wicked.
He loves us so much that He even gave Himself in the person of Jesus to be
violated and put to death on a cross — to rescue us from evil — and to restore
our freedom to know Him and be forever blessed by His goodness.
God raised Jesus to life again — and He will return one day to make all things
right. Good and evil will reap their own rewards in time.
God in His sovereignty decreed the consequences that come with the choices
we make -- but in His goodness He granted us the free will to make those choices.
Those who respond to God’s love and goodness and believe — will be forever
blessed in that goodness.
Those who refuse God’s love and goodness — will be separated from it forever.
God knows the reality of those consequences — and because He is so good —
and so rich in mercy — not wanting anyone — not even the most evil among us
— to perish — He remains compassionate to our very last breath — longing for
all to choose life.
Jesus was willing to enter the chaos of our world 2,000 years ago — and He is
still willing today to enter the chaos of your world and mine.
Though He will not force us against our will — He continues to woo us — out of
the darkness and into His wonderful light — giving us every opportunity to turn
to Jesus and live!
Oh, in the light of His goodness — may we all turn from evil — respond to His
love — and become a light that woos others into His goodness, too!
The real question is not: “If God is good, why does He allow evil?” — but rather:
“Why do we turn away and chose evil, when God is so good?”
