God’s Good Heart

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8

We all experience times when the difficulties seem to keep piling up. Maybe we had a recent surgery and within a couple of weeks, the doctors tell us the procedure did not work and it needs to be repeated. We just start to recover from the surgery when someone in our family catches the flu and they need us to provide meals. At the same time, we experience a relationship breakup or a job loss. Individual events can start to accumulate and drive us to discouragement.

When physical, financial, emotional, or relational problems keep striking, we can start to question God and his plans. We might start to doubt that God is good and question how goodness could come out of such discomfort or troubles.

Hopefully we can be honest about our thoughts and feelings with people we trust and confide in. We might simply need someone to sit and listen to us and help us focus on God and be reminded of his attributes. When we are in despair, it can be difficult to keep our spiritual focus. Instead we get caught up in the tangible things and focus on our present pain and hardships.

Realizing that God is in control and that his ways are always right (whether we like the circumstances or not) will help us in our faith journey. No matter what we are going through, our faith is strengthened when we choose to see our circumstances through the lens of God’s truth and goodness.

The worldling blesses God while he gives him plenty, but the Christian blesses him when he smites him: he believes him to be too wise to err and too good to be unkind; he trusts him where he cannot trace him, looks up to him in the darkest hour, and believes that all is well.

Charles Spurgeon

The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend.

A. W. Tozer

We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that he should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.

Brennan Manning

For Further Reflection

1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 69:1; James 1:17

Today’s Prayer

Father, day after day you have proven to me that you are good. Even when I don’t understand what you are doing, please help me to remember that you are that same good Father. Amen.