Is God Really Good?

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1 NLT

If there is something we as sons and daughters of God need to always remember is that God is good. At His core of who He is, He is good. And it’s important to have that truth secured in your heart because the devil will try to challenge that truth by using the painful things we have been through, the heartbreak, the rejection, the loss, the unanswered prayers and so many other things. And we need to be careful to not listen to the lies he tries to tell us as he reminds us of the painful things that happened to us. A good example of that is with the people of Israel. God delivered them from 400 years of slavery but destroying Pharoah and his people but even on their journey to the promise land they doubted God. Their trust in him failed numerous times. Let’s look at what happened when they reached their destination.

“Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness! they complained. Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

Numbers 14:1-3 NLT

God in His goodness had led them to the promise land to give them what He had promised but the people didn’t understand that. Instead they thought God wanted to kill them and their children!! And this kind of talk happens a few times in the desert.

The enemy wants us to believe God is a cruel God, he wants us to believe God is evil, unforgiving, mean, hateful, uncaring, unloving and so many other negative things but we can’t let him convince us because at the core of who God is He is good. He loves us so much.

So let me ask you this.

What do you believe about God in the difficult times, when your prayers haven’t been answered, when things are not going your way? Or let me ask it in this way. Do you believe God has got you in the midst of all the terrible things you have been through? Do you believe there will be a turnaround in your situation because He is good? Look at some of the people in the bible. Job went through some terrible trials but God showed him His goodness by revealing Himself to him and restoring double what he lost. Then there is Hannah who was barren. God gave her a son eventually. He showed his goodness to Abraham and Sarah by giving them a child in their old age and fulfilling the promise he made to them. And then David. Even though he sinned numerous times God in his goodness extended his grace and mercy to him. He called him a “man after his own heart”

God at His core is so so good. Hold on to that truth no matter what comes at you. As I close I want to share one more scripture;

He who diligently seeks good seeks [God’s] favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come upon him.”

Proverbs 11:27 AMPC

So because God is good we need change our expectations. We need to expect good. The Word says we must SEEK good because when we do that we seek God’s favor! We go through so many tough things that at times we just expect bad things to happen. “No good things happen for me” is what we tell ourselves but that’s contrary to God’s word. We need to expect and seek His goodness to show up in our lives. Expect Him to answer your prayers. Expect the breakthrough to come. Expect the door to open for you. If I could sum it all up I would say,

Expect Him to be good to you! Period.

So with that I have come to the end of the post.

God is good all the time and all the time God is good!

Bless you friends!

Scars of Loss.

If we are to experience God’s best there is a price to pay. This was so clear to me as I was reading Bob Sorge’s book on prayer. Are you prepared to pay the price, because there is a price?
The enemy has come and taken things, he has come and plundered our stuff but there will be restitution. He will pay for all he has done but there is a price.
I have been deeply challenged by the words I have read. This is what he had to say:

“There is a steep price to pay if we are to experience restitution.
What does qualifying for restitution mean?
And even though there is restitution, the reality of the actual loss is a scar that marks us forever.

Take, for starters, Job.

The indelible mark left upon Job because of the loss of his first set of ten children. Yes, he was changed, healed, restored, and given a second set of children. But nothing could erase the fact that he had lost his first children. They were gone forever, and their absence represented a hole in his heart that nothing could fill. This left an eternal scar on Job’s soul“.

And the Lord turned the captivity of Job and restored his fortunes, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.  Job 41:10
We read Job’s story with no clue at the cost he had to pay for restitution. He lost his kids. All his kids. It didn’t mean just because God blessed him with more kids he forgot about the pain and the tragedy of losing his first ten kids. On the contrary the pain of losing his children would forever be with him.

–  Paul is another example of this. Paul was a mighty man of God who God delivered. At the end of his life Paul testifies of God’s faithfulness by saying,

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7

Paul faced impossible opposition! It was not an easy road. For Paul to say what he said, had such a weight and significance. He didn’t just leisurely get there. He nearly died and was actually prepared to die for Christ. His deliverance and glory came at a huge cost. Consider this:

2 Corinthians 11:23-30

²³ Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

²⁴ Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

²⁵ Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

²⁶ In journeying’s often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

²⁷ In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

²⁸ Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

As you can see, Paul suffered a lot.

The last person I would like to point out from the book is Naomi. The author says:

Naomi was comforted with Obed’s death, but she never got her husband and two sons back.
Ruth 4:17-22

We like happy endings but we need to realize like Job Naomi lost her family!
She was happy that she had a grandson but the fact remains, she lost her family and she had to live with that truth everyday of her life! She paid a huge price.

What I would like you to see through all of this is, what you have gone through, what you going through is not all for nothing! It is for a testimony! I would like you to start seeing your scars differently. Your scars are a reminder of what happened to you but they are also a testimony of God’s faithfulness. Let me give you one last practical example of what I mean.
I was abused as a child. My dad was a violent man and a drinker. I lived most of my childhood in fear then in shame and insecurity. I was abused physically and verbally. I have scars to prove it. Today, I can look at those scars and hate my dad but I don’t. I look at those scars and they remind me of how God saved me! I have come a long way because of God! The scars are a testimony of God’s faithfulness, do you understand? Look at Jesus, His nails bare the mark of what He paid on the cross. It is a reminder to us of how much He loved us. His scars are a testimony!

The author goes on to say, The point is: The losses are real, and the scars eternal. And yet, the suffering is worth it because of the glory which is revealed in us.

And I will stop there. God is so good. I hope you will look at your scars differently. There is a price to pay to experience God’s restitution.

Rolain