Is He Really Good?

That theme has been on my heart the past few days.  I am struggling once again with circumstances that don't seem to point to a good God.  How could He {fill in the blank} if He is good?

If we could just get this matter settled, wouldn't everything in life fall in place?  I have no problem with God being all powerful and strong.  I just can't seem to wrap my brain around the "why" of things.

Praying that He might show me His goodness in a fresh way, I was hit upside the head with an idea I have never thought about before.  It seems odd that I never have had this thought, because it makes total sense. 

What if we, as mere earthly spectators, never saw the other side of Calvary?  What if we, as mere humans, never knew of the resurrection of Christ after his death?  What if we only knew of his death?

Who would God be to us in that moment?

He would be a God who either wasn't good enough to keep His one and only Son away from death or He would be a God who wasn't powerful enough to keep His one and only Son away from death.

Since I don't seem to have a problem with His power, I am going to camp out on the issue of His goodness for a minute.  If we had no idea that Christ had indeed risen again, our beliefs about God would drastically be different. 

What kind of Father allows His only Son to die the most excruciating and humiliating death possible?  (Especially if He has the power to keep it from happening.)  It would have to be one that is twisted and cruel.  It would be a Father that is anything but good. 

If all we can see is the death of Jesus, then we would assume that God has a dark side and we would want nothing at all to do with Him.

What is it in your life that makes you think God has a dark side?

Could it just simply be that we aren't to Resurrection Sunday yet?  What if we just don't have the full picture of love and redemption for our circumstances?

I want to be the kind of girl who believes God even though I can't fathom how on earth He is redeeming a situation.  Or restoring it.  Or bringing it back to life. 

I want to be the kind of girl who believes Him to be good even when my circumstances shout that He has gone to the dark side.

God knew from the onset that the death and resurrection of His One and Only Son would be the best thing for all.  It would provide a way for us, mere humans, to be in right relationship with God the Father again.  Sending His Son to the cross would not only save us from the pit of hell, but would put His unconditional love for us on display.

But what about Jesus?  Was it good for Him?  Philippians 2:8-11 would say that He received a reward for His obedience to the Father.  "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  THEREFORE, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father."

What about God?  Was it good for Him?  Yes.  He gets glory out of the whole thing.

The circumstances that taunt us with thoughts of God being anything but good....

will indeed work together for good for those who love Him.

We just have to realize that the therefore is on its way!