God is so good. Good that is awe-inspiring. It has taken years for this truth to reach the depths of my heart in order to be able to say it no matter the circumstances surrounding me. I recently heard a song on the radio that, years ago, was a part of my church’s worship service frequently. It instantly brought me back to that time in my spiritual journey. I can remember standing in our church sanctuary, with the worship team leading us in this song, and I physically could not sing it. I remember that it was almost like instant laryngitis. When I would attempt to sing the song, I could not make a sound; and simultaneously there would be tears in my eyes, as often happens when I feel God speaking something to my heart. God wouldn’t allow me to sing it, and I knew why- I knew that I did not wholeheartedly believe the lyrics to the song. I knew that He did not want me to go through the motions of singing the song half-heartedly, instead He wanted to cause me to realize that I was not there yet and that it was a problem within our relationship.
While the song was not directly referring to the goodness of God, it was certainly rooted in it. The breakdown in my faith at that point was trusting in the goodness of God. Trusting others in my life in general was a problem, and that carried over into my relationship with God. Thankfully, He lovingly taught me of His perfected goodness, faithfulness, and love- that He is worthy of my fully trusting Him. I am still far from trusting Him in the way He deserves; but He has brought me a long way from where I was all those years ago, for which I am so thankful.
I have recently seen some push back to worship songs that say or imply that everything is going to work out for good. I understand the push back is reactive out of a fear of furthering a ‘prosperity Gospel’ and it is tough, in the sound-byte culture, to fit context into every lyric. Being a Christian is not, what is often perpetrated, the easy path. God is not a “crutch”. You will not suddenly get all you have ever wanted or ask for. The Christian life is a spiritual battle every single day. A battle that you often get to be blissfully unaware of when you are not a Christian, but a battle where the difficulty is far outweighed by getting to have a relationship with Jesus. And these, at best, misconceptions about God and Christians do not take into account those of us that were hostile to the Gospel; those of us that scoffed at the very idea of a close relationship with Jesus and tried to run from God. Spoiler alert- running from God is futile. But I know from experience that if you are the type that is stubborn enough to try it, that He is faithful to show Himself as truth and to pursue you. It was painful, many times over as I didn’t just try to run once, but I am so thankful that He didn’t let me go.
It is true that we are not promised that this life is going to be whatever we want it to be. We do not get to write our own life stories. But Jesus is writing our life stories, and He writes far better stories than we can imagine.
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:1-2
But as we aim to share truth and not perpetrate false variations of the Gospel, let us not lose sight of the big picture. We can sing and rejoice at the fact that everything is going to work out for good. It may not be the outcome we want or pray for, and our life story may look very different than the one we would write, but the goodness of God means that everything will work out for eternal good.
It may not be the outcome we want or pray for, and our life story may look very different than the one we would write, but the goodness of God means that everything will work out for eternal good.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”
Revelation 21:1-7
We are not promised easy, we are promised worthwhile. We are not promised earthly good, we are promised eternal good. Goodness that means we can look far past our present circumstances and our earthly lives to eternity. An eternity with no more death, no more tears, no more pain. An eternity in the presence of God. We can sing and rejoice about that being made possible through Jesus.