“God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.” ~popular church saying.
I’ve never been comfortable with direction from the pulpit instructing people in the congregation to “repeat after me”. Maybe I’m a little rebellious, but it always seemed disingenuous to appropriate someone else’s sentiment for my own.
And I think there is danger in adopting pet phrases to explain God (as if He can be explained) and creating shorthand for concepts that require so much more discussion to even begin to understand.
In fact, I think these bumper sticker mantras and t-shirt worthy slogans often push genuine seekers to the fringe because they cannot embrace simplistic explanations for complex issues.
I admit that there are times they slip from my mouth. I might be too lazy to engage with someone or too hurried to take time to really listen to their heart.
But in the wake of losing my son, I’ve become much more aware of how simply repeating one-liners falls so very short in meeting the needs of those around me.
“God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.”
When spoken to someone whose life is going well seems like a benediction, an affirmation–a confirmation that God’s seal of approval rests on them and results in physical blessing.
“God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.”
When spoken to someone whose world is crumbling sounds like a rebuke or reproof–adjust your attitude because it can’t really be as bad as all that!
I think we misunderstand God’s goodness in each case.
I want to think of God’s goodness in terms of concrete benefits that I can point to in the physical world. I want to see tidy endings to messy stories that wrap things up so I can wrap my mind around them. I like stories of miraculous healing, safety in the midst of storms, provision from out of nowhere.
But so many who love Jesus die. And there are Christ followers around the world who starve and who have no place to lay their head. Are they unfaithful? Are they unworthy?
I am beginning to embrace the truth that I have no idea, really, of what “good” is when I try to use the word to describe God. I cannot limit God’s goodness to only what I can see, feel, taste or touch.
I am learning that “good”, when speaking of God, is higher and bigger and different than anything I know. My mind is not capable of comprehending the goodness of God in all its aspects and manifestations.
I have experienced the faithfulness of God, the provision of God and the Presence of God in the midst of this pain-but I had also experienced those things before my son left us.
I do not see the “good” in burying my son.
But right now I walk in half-light, in shadows and in partial revelation. I cannot wrap my ongoing experience in the shadow of the valley of death into a tidy chapter book with a happy ending.
And I refuse to adopt simple explanations of the mystery of this pain.
I am living the story, leaning on God, trusting in His character and waiting for His revelation of how this apparent defeat will ultimately be victorious.
So I trust the truth of Scripture that tells me goodness is the character of God. And I rest in my past experience that in Christ all God’s promises are “yes” and “amen”.
And I long desperately,like a drowning man gasping for air, for the day when I will know fully even as I am fully known.
For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know andunderstand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God]. I Corinthians 13:12 AMPC
thelifeididntchoose 