God is Good, ALL the Time?

Growing up, my pastor would proclaim every Sunday Morning, "God is good!"
To which the congregation would reply, "All the time."
I loved it. I thought, "Yes, what a great attitude."

However, it's also a very difficult concept to understand, because life is not always good. Marriages fall apart, innocent children are abused, babies die, loved ones suffer from chronic illness, stock markets crash, houses burn down, husbands are laid off, companies go bankrupt, hurricanes wipe entire cities off the map, and people are downright wicked. So does that mean that God is not always good?

Our radio station recently asked the question, "In what way is God good, that is your favorite?"

At first the question baffled me. What do you mean, what part of God's goodness do I like best? How can I simply choose one good quality over another?

Another difficulty for me is the emotion behind the question. I am not a feel good, touchy-feely kind of person. I do lover a good tear-jerker, chick-flick, but when it comes to God, I am not emotionally driven. I am faith driven. I am scripturally driven.

I thought on the question all day, asking my husband and my mother how they might answer the question.

Both answered that they're favorite good quality about God was that He forgave them, and that He gave us Christ. To which I completely agree.

But, I had the thought, it goes even deeper than that.

I thought on how God's goodness is displayed in the Bible, and how He is often mistaken as a tyrannical and anything-but-good God. On the surface it seems He is not good, in some parts.

If I truly believe what my pastor always said, "God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good," then how can I understand that better in light of these difficult circumstances, hard times, and painful situations.

Was God good when Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers and sold as a slave? Can I believe God was good when the Egyptians were killing all the Hebrew baby boys? Was He good when Ruth and Naomi were left without husbands, homeless, and without a hope in this world?

Can I believe God was good when David was running for his life from a wicked and crazy king? Can I believe God was good when each of Jesus' disciples were killed for being followers of Jesus?

And still, scenarios from today's world beg the same question. When I hear of a 2 month old with 14 breaks and fractures in her little body, or a young girl who was killed and cut into pieces by sex traffickers, I wonder, is God good ALL the time, even when these children were being hurt?

The Bible teaches us, God is good, all the time. In fact, Jesus taught us that God is the ONLY good that exists.

And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone." Luke 18:19

The word good, can be defined as complete or right. Goodness, is defined as excellence or value.

In this verse in Luke, the Greek word used for good is agathos. It means basically the same, "of good constitution or nature; useful; excellent; upright, honourable."

The first question I must ask myself is, do I truly believe God is good all the time? I believe the Bible. It is my standard for living. It answers all my questions and I believe every word of it. It tells me that God is the only one that is good, so my answer is, yes, I believe God is good all the time.

My second question, then, becomes, how can I believe He is good in all the terrible circumstances and situations I've faced, my family has encountered, and so many people of the world have suffered through?

I believe the answer lies in the story of Joseph.

Joseph suffered more unfairness in his lifetime than anyone I can think of. He was betrayed by his brothers for being favored by his father. They sold him into slavery. Before long, his master's wife tried to seduce him and when he did the right thing and turned her away, she accused him of rape. Of course, his master believed his wife over Joseph and threw Joseph in jail, where he stayed for years.
All of this unfairness happened over a period of 20 years, most of Joseph's life. However, he remained faithful to God. He never let his faith wain. He never rejected God. He continued to serve God even in a hopeless prison cell.

At the end of the story Joseph became the second in command of all of Egypt, and in the midst of the worst drought they had ever seen, Joseph is able to not only save Egypt and other civilizations through the wisdom and gifts God had given him, but he also saved his father and brothers and their families.
You can understand that his brothers were guilt ridden and didn't understand how Joseph could forgive them for such a horrible act of betrayal. Joseph simply said, "What you intended for evil, God intended for good."
In the end, they can all see how God worked for all their good. Joseph had to endure through pain and misery, but in the end, it saved him and his entire family.

It is in this story I understand God's goodness. But it is also where my faith must step in and meet with what my heart believes and my mind knows.

If I believe God is truly good, then whatever I face, I must know that it is for my ultimate good.

As a mother, I let my children undergo difficult, sometimes painful situations. But I know that they must endure through hardships to learn or to trust me. I cannot allow them to live an easy life free of responsibility, work, hardship, or difficulty.
If I never make my children wash their clothes or cook a meal, they will grow up to be useless adults with an unhealthy fast food diet and dirty clothes.
If I allow my children to have every single thing they ask for, they will grow up to expect everyone to give in to them at every turn.
If I do not allow my children to make bad decisions, they will never learn to make good decisions.
It is hard to watch sometimes. It hurts sometimes. And I beg and plead with them to listen to me when they want to wear shorts out in the freezing cold. But I still give them the final choice as to what they wear, so that they can understand that wearing shorts in the cold will not keep them warm throughout their day.

Likewise, God is my father, allowing me to endure difficult times in life. It is when my home was wiped out by a hurricane that I came to trust God as my provider. It is when I was being treated unfairly, that I learned to find my value in Him. It is when I endured my deepest pain that I came to know the comfort and love of the Holy Spirit. And it is when I faced illness and injury that I found him to be my healer.
I believe God is good all the time. In all those times God was good to me and ultimately worked them all out for my good.

At every point in life that it seemed hopeless, dark, painful and all I wanted to do was pull the covers over my head and stay buried away from the outside world, I believed God is good. All the time, God is good.

This is my favorite good quality about God; that He is good, all the time. It is because I believe He is good all the time, that there will never be a situation that I find myself in that I won't know, His goodness will triumph over whatever difficulty I am facing. And in His goodness I will rest and wait for His victory in my life.

Even more, it is because of His goodness, that He gave us Jesus, and through His death on the cross, offered us forgiveness for all of our wickedness. Because He is good, He provided me with a way out of the trap of sin rather than discarding me as I deserve.

Because He is good, I can trust Him and believe His Word and believe that to Him, I am worth saving.
I hope that if you are facing tough or painful times, you will remember that whatever this world intends for evil, God intends it for good. And He can turn even the most hopeless situations into something remarkable.
I pray that if you believe you are too far gone for Him to save, that you will trust in His goodness and receive His gift of forgiveness.