Trusting in the Goodness of the Lord

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

    in the land of the living!

Wait for the Lord;

    be strong, and let your heart take courage;

    wait for the Lord!”

Psalm 27:13-14 (ESV)

How could someone commit such an evil act? And if God is good, how can he allow bad things to happen?

Tears dripped down my face as I listened to the testimony of a young woman from our church. She was describing how she felt when she learned a robber had murdered her father.  

How can a good God permit the senseless killing of such a godly man?

God doesn’t condone evil, yet he has the power to stop it. Why doesn’t he exercise that power?

I don’t know.

But I believe in the goodness of the Lord. And while we can’t see God’s face, we can see his goodness all around us.

On Mount Sinai, Moses asked to see God’s glory. Moses made a pretty bold request, yet God didn’t completely dismiss it.

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” Exodus 33:18-20 (ESV)

I find it intriguing that, instead of showing Moses his face, God showed Moses his goodness. Those who are intimately acquainted with God know that he’s good.

One of my heroines of faith is Joni Eareckson Tada. When she was in her teens, she was paralyzed in a diving accident. She’s spent the last five decades in a wheelchair, yet her life has been more productive than most. She’s been an artist who paints with her mouth, an author, speaker, singer, wife, and the head of an international organization that advocates for the handicapped.

In her book, The God I Love, she says, “Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.”

Though God sometimes allows painful, tragic events, his objective is always our ultimate well-being. He takes the bad things and reworks them to produce something good. Romans 8:28 tells us:

.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

In the natural world, hazardous elements can combine to form something valuable to human life. Consider sodium and chlorine. Sodium, in its elemental form, is a highly reactive metal that can burn violently when it contacts air. When it comes in contact with water, it produces highly flammable gases which ignite spontaneously. Chlorine is also a highly reactive element and in high concentrations is caustic and harmful to human health. But when these elements combine, they form sodium chloride—salt—a substance necessary to life. Something that preserves and adds flavor.

 If, in the natural world, God can create something useful from two such hazardous elements, can’t he also turn evil into good for us?

 Not everything that happens is good, but in God’s intricate, interwoven plan, he uses all things to bring about something good. Sometimes we have to wait a while to see what God is up to, but Psalm 27 indicates that we don’t always have to wait until heaven to see the wonders God is working.

I don’t know why God does what he does. For example, I don’t know why Joni spent most of her life in a wheelchair while I am walking free on two legs.

 I don’t know why this dear family in our church has had to endure such tragedy. But as I listen to the testimony of that young woman, I gain encouragement.

“We have even more faith in God than we ever had,” she said.

If she can keep trusting, so can I. Because I have confidence in the goodness of the Lord.

Father, I believe that you are good. Help me to open my eyes so I don’t miss the countless examples of your goodness. Give me vision to see how you’re using even the most wretched circumstances to work together to produce something beautiful. As I wait for you, please allow me to see your goodness on earth.

Think about difficult circumstances you’ve experienced in the past. Can you look back and see how God might use those bad situations to produce something new and wonderful? Journal about those experiences. Ask God to use your heartbreaks and tragedies to accomplish good.

Memorize Psalm 27:13-14. Declare it out loud when bad situations confront you. Remind yourself that God is good.