Experiencing God’s Goodness
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! ~Psalm 27:13
Life has recently provided a roller coaster ride. I have experienced the satisfaction of helping someone in a very practical way, the grief over the illness and death of a close friend, joy over good test results for my husband while walking with him through a rough couple of days, and the grief from a growing understanding of the shedding of innocent blood in our land through the tragedy of abortion.
I have had more spiritually challenging conversations with other people this month than I have had in the past year. It can be challenging to explain the sovereignty of God to someone who is going through a difficult set of circumstances. Sometimes I question their questions.
It’s not like I never doubt God. But, in His goodness, when it seems like there are a hundred balls coming at me, when things are really getting out of control and it looks like one more is coming right for my face, God is the Divine outfielder calling me off, shouting, “I got it! I got it!” He hasn’t dropped one yet.
A commentary I used to study through 1 and 2 Samuel a few years ago taught me to always look for what God is doing. It was fascinating to see the deep value in those passages as it looked at the work God was accomplishing in and through His people.
In life, in the good, the bad, the hard, the harsh, the fun, the rejoicing, and the weeping, that study has reminded me to ask, “What is God doing in this?” I don’t always see what He is doing. Sometimes I think I do, then I have to remind myself that I do not know the mind of God. I can speculate about what He is doing, but I never truly know what His purposes are.
Just asking myself the question reminds me that He is doing something, and then I remember that all He does is good. Even better than that, it is what is good for me, for my husband, or even for my friend, and ultimately, for her family. It is a comforting thing to rest in the goodness of the Lord.
In my day to day experiences, will I ever doubt God again? I know I will, more often than I should. In His grace, I believe He will remind me again of all that He has done for me through Jesus Christ, all those things that have worked out for my good, and I will trust Him for the next time.
Do you, too, sometimes doubt God? He is not surprised by it, He left us instructions to “be merciful to those who doubt” (Jude 1:22). Next time, will we will be willing to look for what good He is doing?
In His sovereignty, whatever the experience is, God is good. Sometimes we have to look for it in order to see it from our human perspective.
Do you and I truly believe that we will experience the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living?
I love serving Jesus Christ as one who “feeds His sheep”. It is my desire to teach God’s Word diligently, with reverence and awe for the Source of the truths I teach, and with an engaging, and sometimes witty, delivery so that the hearers will not just listen but do what it says.
- For Our Good - February 12, 2020
- Future Benefits - January 8, 2020
- Attention Getting Behavior - October 16, 2019
“God is the Divine outfielder.” Thanks, Beth, for such an encouraging post. I have felt this same kind of weariness as the ball machine seemed set on high. But then God seemed to take it over, slow it down, or just be the ‘outfielder’ JUST IN TIME before I started to drop more balls than usual! Gosh it’s good to know He’s there, right? A reminder of his goodness in the land of the living. Phew!!
When I doubt God or can’t see what it is He’s doing, I fall back on Isaiah 55:8-9. There have even been times I had to say it out loud over and over. Just reciting “His thoughts are not my thoughts and my ways are not his ways. As far as heaven is from earth, so are his thoughts and ways from my own.” It’s my own paraphrase, but it certainly works to put things back into a Godly perspective. 🙂