God Isn’t Only Good When You Say So

It was not a pleasant scene. I was chatting with two wonderful friends, Parker and Meg at their house when we were joined by two surprise guests—Mark and Abigail—who showed up to announce big news: They were pregnant with their first.

*Photo Credit: Kate Hiscock, Creative Commons

They’d just had the ultrasound and the baby was healthy as a horse. And, wouldn’t you know, Mark’s employer was giving them a house so that there’d be enough room for Junior to run around, and their parents were just thrilled, and oh isn’t God good?

That question got asked a lot. 

Isn’t God good?

It got asked until Meg politely excused herself. It wasn’t Mark and Abby’s fault. They didn’t know that Parker and Meg have been trying to get pregnant for years now, or that they have only miscarriages to show for it. They’ve told me how hard it is to see other couples have kids, and that’s to be expected. Any time someone else gets something that we want, it’s difficult.

But the pain here went deeper than just jealousy.

Isn’t God good?

Yes, I suppose so. But whenever we ask that question, it’s meant to be a rhetorical one. We only ask when our circumstances are also good.

They accepted the offer! Isn’t God good?

Mike got a raise! Isn’t God good?

The doctor called and the tests came back negative! Isn’t God good?

But what then are we to do with the rest of life?

The times when the offer is refused, Mike is fired, and the tests come back worse than the doctor thought? Or, if you will, what are we to do with the times when the answer to the question “Isn’t God good?” isn’t quite so rhetorical?

In those moments, I turn to the book of Job.

I once heard a woman say, “I don’t understand a word of Job. Not a dang word.” That has stuck with me ever since. It is the book where the question of God’s goodness is an open one, and it finds no easy answer. It’s the book of the downtrodden, the brokenhearted, the disappointed and, I would think, barren.

There are no grand sermon illustrations. No gee-whiz parting Red Seas or Lazaruses coming forth. Merely the plaintive question: “Isn’t God good? And the unsettling answer: “Who are you, oh man?”

This is why “Isn’t God good?” is of little use to us.

Or, at least, it won’t be until we have a better knowledge of who God is and what we mean by good.

In Job, we see a man who was confused by God, distraught and desperate for some answers. But he “did not sin by blaming God” (1:22) because he had a different mantra than “isn’t God good?”

It’s the same mantra Parker and Meg have held to through their heartache. It’s Job 13:15: “God might kill me, but I have no other hope.”

God cannot be made good or bad by our circumstances, but He can be our hope in every kind.

Don’t be fooled into thinking God only reveals his goodness through giving us what we desire. Keep holding on and keep looking for him, and he will help you live a story far greater than the one you’ve imagined.

God Isn’t Only Good When You Say So is a post from: Storyline Blog