The Cutting Edge of Goodness

God is good.  Only God is good.  All that He does or allows can only be “good.”  

His goodness is manifested across generations as well as in the intimate, unfolding circumstances (the cutting edge) of our daily lives.  It is quite easy to see God’s eventual goodness from Bible stories and history books.  Perceiving His goodness in the mundane grind of everyday living requires effort.  But it’s worth it.  In fact, it’s possible to train our senses and emotions to become aware of God’s hand upon our lives, increasing our faith and assurance that all things are indeed working together for our good…His good. 

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible has quite a bit to say concerning the topic of “all things” and the goodness of God.   The first mention of “all things” is in Genesis 9:3:  Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.  I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.  The last mention of “all things” is Revelation 21:7:  He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  From one end to the other, the Father is concerned with giving, which is the overarching expression of His goodness.  Moreover, His giving encompasses “all things,” be it for physical life here on earth or for eternity with Him. 

Between these extremes, God develops His abiding interest in giving us all things, confirming that:

o  We can do all things:

• Philippians 4:13:  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

o  We can have and indeed have been given all things:

• Mark 11:24:  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 
• Matthew 21:22:  And all things, whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
• 2 Peter 1:3:  As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue…

o  He wants to be glorified in all things:

• 1 Peter 4:11:  If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.  If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.  Amen.

o  All things are of Him:

• 2 Corinthians 5:18:  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

o  He wants and sees us as being sufficient in all things:

• 2 Corinthians 9: 8:  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have abundance for every good work.

o  We receive all things in their proper priority and perspective, after seeking Him first:

• Matthew 6:33:  But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

o  He is exercising His modus operandi in the world, working out all things, especially those things which concern us, followers of Christ, for our good and benefit:

• Jeremiah 9:24:  But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight,” says the Lord.
• Romans 8:28:  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

So, literally, “from soup to nuts,” God has covered “all things” that concern us. 

Despite the goodness of God and all of these powerful promises, why do we struggle in fear and doubt with the unfolding of things and circumstances in life as being bad?  Why do Christians typically cling to Romans 8:28 in the face of those things or circumstances that, on the surface, appear to be not so good?  Can anything “not good” come from our Father who is the only source of good?  Does His allowing apparently bad things to come our way change His inherent good nature, any of His promises, or His modus operandi in the earth?  Why do we tend to limit the power and intentions of God to our minimalist definition of “good?”   

As he stood there, sinking in the smelly mire of a muddy pit into which he had been thrown for doing his job, the Prophet Jeremiah may have pondered some of these tough questions.  Long gone were the glory days of his ruddy youth when he had his first encounter with the Almighty who ascertained, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.  Before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.  Though complaining of his youthfulness and inexperience, he reluctantly accepted the commission on his life, and may well have wondered about the marvelous experiences that would come, especially with God’s repeated promise, I am with you to deliver you.   

Fast forward a few years and our friend Jeremiah finds himself in quite a fix which apparently had nothing good about it.  He lost his wife, was forbidden to take another, became the hated and laughing stock of the town, was ordered to go naked publicly, was threatened with death numerous times, etc. – all in response to the incredibly weighty, negative message God had “shut up in his bones like fire” for his countrymen.  Let’s face it; his personal lifestyle was a literal wreck on every front.  To add insult to injury, he now finds himself dumped in a dark, dank dungeon of the sons of an evil king for an indeterminate sentence, with no food or water, with rope burns on his hands and body … and there, he begins … to sink, slowly … deeper and deeper into the filth and mire.  Undoubtedly, his hope and spirit also begin to sink in this new, stinking circumstance of his increasingly perplexing life.  “Is this why I was formed in my mother’s womb?  “Is this what I signed up for when I accepted the commission from God, whom I only knew as good?”  “Maybe I should have more carefully negotiated the terms of my commission, possibly to include keeping me out of trouble, rather than delivering me from it once I get into it!”  “Surely, it can’t get any worse than this … Oh, where is the promised deliverance?”  These things he may have pondered in his heart.             

Often, we glibly credit Romans 8:28 when negative or bad circumstance in our lives seemingly take a positive turn that we define as “good.”  Better to give God some praise, than not at all.  But where is the faith in this approach?  Would we have given God glory had this positive turn never materialized?  As scripture records, Jeremiah knew only the promise of such a turn around for Israel and Judah.  It is not recorded that he actually experienced this anytime after his warning of Jerusalem’s destruction.

Jeremiah mournfully summarizes what he thinks of his ministry (Lamentations 3), opining that God made him walk in darkness and not in light; turned His hand against him; surrounded him with bitterness and woe; set him in dark places like the dead; made his chain heavy; shut out his prayer; made his paths crooked; was like a bear lying in wait and a lion in ambush; pierced his loins with arrows; made him drink wormwood; broke his teeth with gravel; and drained his strength and hope.  Hard to believe?  Have you ever known a preacher who would summarize his ministry in this manner?  Possibly reflecting on the horrors of his pit experience, Jeremiah concludes, “My soul remembers and sinks within me.”   Is there no end to such a heavy, sinking feeling that comes with every flashback?  This is an incredibly negative résumé of a ministry which God regards as His good and perfect will.

Yet, in all this mourning and lamentations for his people, his city and his lifestyle, it is refreshing to learn that Jeremiah glorified God for His goodness.  He praised God for who He IS, not only focusing on what He does as judged by our very narrow perspective.  In the same breath he noted, Therefore, I have hope.  Through the Lord’s mercies we are not [altogether] consumed because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: Great is Your faithfulness … I hope in Him. 

We stand week after week in the services of our pristine mega-churches singing the numerous, familiar choruses, hailing the great faithfulness of our Lord.  As we do, I wonder how many of us realize that the Bible’s only reference to the “great faithfulness” of God was written in such deep despair, mourning a life and lifestyle that were, by any human standards, regarded as worthless and lost.  This was pure faith which undoubtedly pleased God, and which today seems far from the way in which we typically embrace Romans 8:28. 

Contrast Jeremiah’s situation with that of a tall, handsome but shy, popular Jewish king who was very successful in his initial conquests of the day.  To please the people and perhaps further boost his growing popularity, he allowed his fellow conquerors to keep some of the booty from an early battle.  On the surface, this had to be all good in the minds of those involved.  But it was far from good, and in doing so, Saul sowed the slow growing seeds to his eventual, pathetic destruction. 

Only as we renew our minds and peer more clearly through our personal “glass, darkly” will we be able to praise God for His inherent goodness, and truly know all things are of Him, whether they be good or bad in our eyes.  They are good because He is all and only good.