We got the money we needed! God is good!
The biopsy results came back negative! God is good!
I'm pregnant! God is good!
I got the job! God is good!
But what about when we don't get what we want? What then? Is God not good anymore?
By proclaiming His goodness and faithfulness only when things go our way, do we imply that if they don't go our way, then He's not good? What about saying, "I'm infertile! But, God is good!", "I'm having financial difficulties! But, God is good!", "My child has cancer! But, God is good!"?
We need to reevaluate our criteria for assessing God's goodness. Whether you get the good or the hard in your life, He is good!
So how do you process God's goodness in the midst of seeing those around you get what you had always dreamed of? In the midst of difficulties and tragedies? When your child is given only months to live? When you struggle to put food on the table each day? When you get thrown into prison unjustly? When your marriage is falling apart? When you are plagued by a painful chronic illness?
How do you process it?
You count your blessings because no matter how hard your situation might be, you don't have to look far to find someone else who is living with an even harder one!
You think ETERNALLY because one day soon all of "this" will be over and all we'll have left is what "this" made us to be. The hard stuff... the trials and the tests... that's what makes us who we are.
You thank Him for this hard thing because it's really a gift in disguise. It's a gift because it drives you desperately to Him... and what more do we need in this life than to be desperately driven to Him? There's nothing more beautiful than that! If God always gave us what we wanted we'd never learn what "this" has taught us. We wouldn't know Him like we do because we wouldn't need Him. Yes, it really is a gift in disguise!
You trust that He really will work all of this together for good .
