God is Good!

Last week, I wrote about the age-old question, “If God is good, why do bad things happen?” 

 

I was not shy in my use of the Book of Job in that post.

 

I am certain you remember, a bunch of truly, horribly, nasty, awful stuff happened to Job and he cried out “Why, LORD, why me?”  (Dan Jones paraphrase.) God answers Job by asking him 77 questions that pretty much come down to, “Who do you think you are, little man?” (Again, my paraphrase.) God never mentions one word to Job about Satan’s involvement in all of his misfortunes, but God knew exactly what He was doing all along.

 

That’s the point. God is God and I most certainly am not. (Thank GOD!)

 

Now that I think about it, there’s a part where Job is sitting in a pile of ashes scraping his festering, pus-filled boils with a piece of broken pottery, and: (Job 2:9)

 

His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”

But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. (NLT)

 

That verse reminded me that I have an awful lot of good things in my life that God has generously poured out on me, which I often take for granted without the proper amount of thanksgiving and gratitude that our LORD is worthy of.

 

Chief among my blessings is that I have a wonderful wife who has never, ever given me the kind of advice Job got from his wife. HALLELUJAH! 

 

I’ve been to places outside this country that have truly, truly highlighted how blessed and fortunate I am. Most of the world does not have the luxury of a daily warm shower. I do not have to burn bathroom tissue in the street to avoid clogging the plumbing. I have never spent one day of my life coping with a parasite that was living inside my body. (Ticks and mosquitos are tame compared to what many people in the world deal with.) Clean drinking water comes out of every tap in my house. Safe food is so abundant I, like most people in the United States, struggle with excess weight and body fat. I have access to amazing health care.  I have access to safe and reasonably-reliable transportation that can take me almost anywhere in the world if I so choose. I have a safe place to live, plenty of clothing to wear, and so many earthly possessions I could not sit down and list them all.

 

I can have ice cream pretty much any time I want –with sprinkles and a cherry on top if I feel like it.

 

It’s like I’m the grandkid somebody is spoiling just rotten. 

 

And that, above and beyond all the material blessings I just listed, is the real point.

 

I am loved.

 

God has surrounded me with people who love me and whom I love –and He adds to them all the time. He gave His one and only Son to die for me and create a relationship between He and I designed to last for eternity –and then He gave me eternal life. 

 

He has done all of this not because I have earned it or deserve it, but because He wanted to love me. 

 

Yes, God is God and I am not. THANK GOD!

 

 

 

Today’s Praise

2 Timothy 1:9

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. (NLT)