Is God good when it seems like injustice reigns in our lives and throughout the entire world?
When life is unfair and unbearable, in loneliness and betrayal?
What about when life is overshadowed by pain and confusion?
Is He good when good things are taken away from us?
Even in the darkness, when questions go unanswered?
Is God good during times I'm not meant to understand?
Is. God. good?
-
I've spent countless sleepless nights asking myself these questions, entirely unsure if there was even a God to hear me or to answer my wandering thoughts. And time after time, as I've demanded to know why things happen the way they do, he deems it just to kneel and needlessly answer me. The fact that God, my creator, savior, and sustainer, has revealed himself to me is one I cannot fully wrap my head around. Why would I even believe in God? It's much easier to reject all notions of God than place faith in and surrender to something we cannot see. It's much easier to reject a supposedly "good" God when there's seemingly no good to be seen.
Where is the good in pain and suffering? In injustice? In death? There is so much wrong and hurt in this world. How can you say that God is good?
-
I can say that God is still good because though I mourn when I see injustice, I know that this aching world is pointing to a day of judgment, when justice will be brought forth.
I can say that God is still good through loneliness, because he has brought me through it before.
I can say that God is still good even though life seems to be a nightmare and whirlwind of confusion, because I know that's not the end for me.
I can say that God is still good even when he takes things from me, because I know that they were never mine to begin with.
I can say that God is still good even in the darkness, because he walks me through each bitter step.
I can say that God is still good even when I don't understand, because his plan for me is far better than anything I could imagine.
I can only say these things because I have tasted and seen that God has been good to me amidst times of pain and hurting as well as times of joy. He deigns to grant me breath at every moment.
Who am I to question God's goodness? Can the created speak out against its creator? I speak for myself; I will never grasp why God does what he does. As for what he chooses to reveal, I'll get it when I get it.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- Isaiah 55:8-9
