Our community has just undergone a tragedy. I was tempted to say that we have just come through it, but many people are nowhere close to being through it. I mourn with those who mourn. Today I want to lift up and encourage those of you who are hurting so desperately today. If I could tell you one truth today, one truth on which to hang your hat, one truth that could sustain you in the darkest night, that would be... God is good.
Now, that doesn’t mean that everything that happens in life is good. That doesn’t mean that you should pretend that something bad is really good. It means that at His very core, there is nothing evil about Him. There is no darkness. All He does is good.
Romans 8 tells us that we have such a wonderfully good God that He can even take difficult times, and bring some good out of them. That means that the bad doesn’t need to have the last say. We have a God who wipes away tears, and brings joy after a time of darkness. I like the line from the movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: "Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right, then it's not yet the end."
The Old Testament hero Job declared that God gives and takes away. I don’t think that’s true. Some of what Job said was right-on, and he had a great attitude, but he also believed in a large dose of karma. You know, you get what you deserve. Grace says that you get what you don’t deserve: mercy, second chances, hope, forgiveness, love. Because you’re so good? No – because God is good.
Bill Johnson said that God’s goodness doesn’t have small print at the bottom. There is no catch in God’s goodness. There is no cost to receive it. There are no hoops to jump through to earn it. His goodness is who He is, and He wants to share Himself with you. Because He is good, whether you are or not. Turn to Him.
In the dark night, in the still of the morning, in the fear of the next day, God is good.
In the loss of stability, in the convulsions of weeping that lasts forever, in the emptiness at the dinner table, God is good.
In the pain, in the tears, in the sadness, God is good.
God is good, even when life is not.
Now, that doesn’t mean that everything that happens in life is good. That doesn’t mean that you should pretend that something bad is really good. It means that at His very core, there is nothing evil about Him. There is no darkness. All He does is good.
Romans 8 tells us that we have such a wonderfully good God that He can even take difficult times, and bring some good out of them. That means that the bad doesn’t need to have the last say. We have a God who wipes away tears, and brings joy after a time of darkness. I like the line from the movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: "Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right, then it's not yet the end."
The Old Testament hero Job declared that God gives and takes away. I don’t think that’s true. Some of what Job said was right-on, and he had a great attitude, but he also believed in a large dose of karma. You know, you get what you deserve. Grace says that you get what you don’t deserve: mercy, second chances, hope, forgiveness, love. Because you’re so good? No – because God is good.
Bill Johnson said that God’s goodness doesn’t have small print at the bottom. There is no catch in God’s goodness. There is no cost to receive it. There are no hoops to jump through to earn it. His goodness is who He is, and He wants to share Himself with you. Because He is good, whether you are or not. Turn to Him.
In the dark night, in the still of the morning, in the fear of the next day, God is good.
In the loss of stability, in the convulsions of weeping that lasts forever, in the emptiness at the dinner table, God is good.
In the pain, in the tears, in the sadness, God is good.
God is good, even when life is not.