God is Good All the Time By jsnapp62
When we are going through hard times the statement that God is Good All the Time can cause us to reflect and think, how can this be good? I’ve done it myself and I know many others have also. But still the statement is true.
God doesn’t dwell just in our present tense. God dwells in our past, our present and our future. When I look back to the things God has brought me out of, things that I have to confess, I was trying to see how God’s goodness fit into the picture, I have seen His hand. Hind sight is 20/20 they say.
From the floods that taught me so much about the hand of God in our lives, to the issues with my Mom, to the day to day financial issues that we’ve been through, I would emphasize ‘through’; we are on the other side of so many situations that I could see no way out of the mess, but God, who deals with eternity not just our present tense, wasn’t worried or confused at all. He has told us over and over that He will never leave us nor forsake us-and that means never, if we trust Him and His Word in our lives.
I cannot imagine being without that blessed assurance when walking through dark places AND God does allow His children to walk through the same dark places as non-believers. It is by faith, in knowing God’s promises that we can see the light at the end of the dark place.
I look at the desperation of so many families, no jobs, homes in foreclosure, homeless and I know if we walk in faith there is a brighter day ahead. Many have contemplated suicide and many have commited suicide. But what did that act accomplish? Many left family members to struggle alone. Many took the lives, the future potential, of children and others for what? So they wouldn’t have to struggle alone? God should be the one that decides the fate of each person.
I know many will disagree doctrinally, but the self-will of mankind can do things God knows about, BUT things that He definitely doesn’t agree as righteous. When a sinner dies in their sin the Bible tells us God has no joy in that death. As humans when someone is stubborn and doesn’t listen to reason, we say, ‘Fine, let them suffer the consequences’, and sometimes we may even feel vindicated when we see the stubborn person fall into trouble with an, ‘I told you so’. That is not the way God responds to the death of a sinner who would not listen to His call. He mourns a life that could have been so much more if the person would have listened to good council.
If you are one that thinks there is no hope for any thing different than what you feel or the situation you are going through, remember there is joy in the morning. The dark night will not last forever. I know from up close and personal, there is a brighter day either here or beyond BUT we are not the one to make the decision of when that will be.
Do what Paul in the Bible did in a dirty, filthy prison cell. Find God’s will in what is happening. Learn from the experiences and come out on the other side stronger. If you take the fatal way out you will never know the joy of that morning when God causes you to step into the light.
Believers and non-believers take up that hope, that faith that all things work together for good to those that love the Lord, to those who are the called according to His purpose. There is peace of mind in knowing that promise in the midst of trials and storms of life. God gives peace that passes man’s understanding in all situations. God is good, all the time.