When I saw that today’s focus of our Getting to Know God series was “God is Good” it immediately made me think of the old cliche, “If it’s not good yet, God’s not done yet.” Do you believe that God is Good, period?

For 30 blogs, I am focusing on Getting to Know God. My launch guide for these 30 blogs is from The Navigators’ website. It is called 30 Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God.

This is the fifth blog in the series and corresponds to Day 5 of the Navigators’ Guide which says:

“God is Good. God is the embodiment of perfect goodness, and is kind, benevolent, and full of good will toward all creation.”

The verses cited today are:
Psalm 119:65-72 (NIV) Do good to your servant according to your word, Lord. Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart. Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law. It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

It can be a struggle to see the goodness of God when we are walking through troubled times. It doesn’t make sense to us that God would allow suffering and heartbreak if He really loves us. The issue with that thought pattern is that we are attributing BAD things to a GOOD God. It doesn’t add up. God is good and as the Psalmist states about Him, “You are good, and what You do is good.” That is a statement that is easy to believe when things in our life are going well. However, when we experience devastating loss or pain the clouds come and we quickly turn to blaming God and deciding He is NOT good.

I’m here to tell you that God is INDEED Good. I have experienced MANY bad times in my life. As I was walking through each difficult time I wondered if God still loved me, and if He did, then how could He possibly allow such a bad thing to happen to me? My answer to those questions is evident by what happened during each of those difficult seasons.

Each time I walked through a loss or tough time, I pressed INTO God. I kept Him in the forefront of my mind and needed Him EVERY moment of EVERY day just to keep breathing and walking. As I pressed INTO Him, He provided awesome comfort, which gave me Peace, which in turn, drew me closer to Him. I knew beyond a doubt that He loved me and I could feel it because I drew so close to Him in those times.

As I look back on the sudden and unexpected loss of my father-in-law at 62 years old and, just a few short years later, the sudden and unexpected loss of my father at 62 years old I can’t claim I felt the goodness of God in those dark times. What I can claim, however, is that I grew closer to God. Walking through those hard times KNOWING God was Good has changed my life for the better. I would certainly not choose to lose two fathers but I will never regret the good that God has done in my heart and in my life as a result of those dark times.

Are you walking in a dark shadow right now? Have you experienced a recent devastating loss? Regardless of the bad in your life right now, I encourage you to press into God for comfort and I promise you that “If it’s not good yet, God’s NOT done yet!” You merely need to allow Him the space to work in you to work all things for His Good.

If you are having a hard time finding good in your current darkness you may need to adjust your focus. For some ideas on how to do that see my post “Hocus Pocus – Where’s your focus?”

Many blessings and much love to you,
Pamela