Encouragement

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God is good. How many times have we heard that? And, actually it seems to be a bit of an understatement, don’t you think? Even “God is love” doesn’t begin to do Him justice. However, there are many who argue He cannot be good, never mind being the perfect definition of love. Perhaps these folks are seeing the corrupt, dark world in which we live. Perhaps they even see horrific personal injustices and unbearable pain in their own lives. Overwhelmed by grief and confusion, they cannot conceive a loving God allowing the depths of depravity that exist in our society today when He has the absolute power to change it or stop it altogether. Therefore they reject Him out-of-hand, unfortunately throwing out with this rejection their only hope for the change they so desperately desire.

So, how do we go about reconciling a good God with our wretched condition which seems to scream that He is not good, or at best, sometimes good to some people?

I’m glad you asked. Let’s turn to the scriptures. Genesis 1 recounts the process of creation. As God spoke each part of the universe into existence, He saw that it was good and after He formed man, He saw His creation was now VERY good. (God’s love for us is already quite apparent in this statement.)

We see here that a good God created good things. And what does He do next? He gives it all to us! His only request being we don’t eat from one particular tree.

Of course, we know what happens then. Standing side by side, Adam and Eve choose Satan’s lie over God’s glorious provision and they eat from the forbidden tree. At that very instant, they and all of God’s magnificent handiwork so lovingly given to them and subject to the same fate, begin to die. His heartbreak must have been profound – as anguished as any we feel today. So why didn’t God draw the line right then and there and annihilate them? Why didn’t He undo the damage?

Because God is good. He LOVES the things He created! He WANTS them! Even, ESPECIALLY, the two inhabitants were precious to Him, in spite of the unimaginable consequences of their disobedience.

Think back to what we just covered. Man had a choice to obey or rebel. This was God’s design from day one and it is so to this day. He did not make puppets with no free will and no choice but to obey. He wants us to CHOOSE to obey Him. Much as lovers down through the ages have thrilled to the words “I love you, too”, God thrills to the same thing! How much satisfaction would you get from someone that is forced to declare love to you, that has no choice but to say those words? I suspect it wouldn’t be much. He could not take away the consequences of the choice we made without sacrificing the very thing that allows whosoever will to come to Him.

Surely our rejection of Him reflected in disobedience contributed to His heartbreak, as did the destruction of the splendidly perfect creation He wanted us to enjoy, but I believe what cut Him to the core was how badly this decision would hurt us. We were now removed from the Divine protection He could give us in the garden. Evil and death were unleashed in all their fury. And that is how we got into our dismal situation and why God doesn’t just fix it. It is not that He is not good or that He wants suffering. All He ever wanted was for us to love Him and let Him take care of us. But that was now in ruins and this was not going to be a simple fix.

Remember though, God is good. With all of His loving heart, He immediately begins to execute a plan for restoration, a plan that would not come about the same way creation did. This plan was different from, but as glorious as, His creation work. He did not stop loving us and He did not take away our freedom of choice. Instead, because He SO loved the world, He gave His only Son, thereby defeating evil and death, but not destroying our liberty to reject or accept Him as we so incline.

God’s Son, Jesus, is the way back. He is the restoration plan. God still passionately craves our love. He pleads with us to choose to follow Jesus to a joyful reunion, but He will never force it. Until we decide for ourselves to pursue Jesus, we will continue inflicting pain and agony, grieving each other and grieving God.

So don’t ever doubt God understands how much you hurt. He KNOWS how it aches. He felt it when we chose death over Him in the garden, and when His only Son was tortured and died on the cross – at the very hands of the people He made. He agonizes over each and every soul that refuses the love, protection, and encouragement He continues to offer freely. He is heartsick over the results of the rejection that bring such sorrow to so many. He loves you so very much. His rules are only for your benefit and He longs to comfort you as only He can. I hope that if you are one of those having trouble comprehending God’s goodness in the face of such evil as is in the world today, that this writing will help you understand a little better. Even if you don’t, please, at least, give Him a chance. You won’t regret it. God is good.

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