He is Good

The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works. Psalms 145:9 (NASB - emphasis mine)

Do we really believe that the Lord is good to all? I mean, think about it.

There are people who are greatly suffering. Just click over to the Voice of the Martyrs website to see how many of His children are suffering so incredibly. It makes our "suffering" look quite puny, to be honest. Is He good in these situations? (1 Peter 4:12-19)

His children stray and He disciplines. It's not usually a pretty sight. Is He good in that? (Rev 3:19)

We have our idea of good. It fits in this nice box of morals, so God must fit in the box, too, right? Our thought is that if God is good, then He does good things.

I think we may have the wrong idea. The reality is that God is good, therefore everything He does is good!

Do you get the difference?

God has a much higher perspective of good. In fact, in Mark 10:18, Jesus Himself tells the rich young ruler that only God is good. If God alone truly fits the bill when it comes to goodness, then I have a feeling we don't have a full grasp of what the word means.

When we are tempted to look at God and say, "This just isn't right!" maybe we should stop and read a little bit in Ezekiel where God is teaching the people the difference between His way and theirs. I have a feeling we might hear the same response the Israelites heard:

"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not right.' Hear now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right?" Ezek 18:25 (NASB)

God is good. People suffer. Circumstances go badly. Sin has to be dealt with. But, through it all, God - and God alone - is good in all He does.