How Can We Know God is Good?
“No.” I looked my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Faison, right in the eyes and spoke these words to her. She had asked me to do something, and I didn’t feel like doing it. So, I refused. I frequently found myself screaming a plead for innocence though I was found guilty. My mom regularly bribed me to have good behavior with a strawberry milkshake from Checker’s every Friday. Yeah… definitely a low moment for me haha.
I went home with the worst color on the behavior chart (red), and you can guess what happened from there. At this point, my parents and I had the routine down. I hid the spank stick, not wanting the consequence; and they would make me retrieve it. I would then receive the consequence for my actions and a drawn-out chat about why what I did was not acceptable.
I knew what I did was wrong, but I really didn’t want the consequence.
Now that I’m older, I obviously see that my parents didn’t enjoy disciplining me. They did it because they cared for me and wanted what was best for me. They knew the punishment would ultimately teach me the right way to act. It would allow me to mature from a brat with a sassy attitude to a woman who understands the weight her words can carry. The sass still comes, but only if heavily prompted- so don’t try me!!! haha
As I’m reading through the book of Ezekiel, I can’t help but cringe. This book is TOUGH. It’s not in any way encouraging, motivational or loving. It’s actually the opposite, which I think is the reason people often skip over it.
The whole book covers what the people keep doing wrong to receive such punishments. They continually fall outside of the purpose they were created for because they don’t want to do what they’re told. This stems from feelings of pride and thinking they can prosper following their own plan. Their minds trick them into thinking they can be successful in their own way of doing things instead of handing over control.
They keep saying, “no” to God.
Every time they say, “no,” the consequences keep coming and getting worse. We see lines spoken in chapter 25 that read, “I will destroy you,” “I will execute judgments on Moab,” “They shall know my vengeance,” and “I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes.”
Ouch. The verses God speaks don’t sound very loving.
I think we find ourselves thinking this same thing about God in our lives sometimes. If we’re going through something hard or painful, we might ask ourselves the question: “Why is God good?”
If He lets bad things happen; and He’s putting me through this right now, how can people say He’s actually good?
I wrote the answer in a long, drawn out 10-page article so get ready to read. Just kidding.
The answer is simple: It’s because He is.
The people in Ezekiel have rebelled for years as they turn against what they know to be right. They have established a pattern of doing one wrong thing after another, and it’s created some pretty bad habits in the process.
In addition to this, their rebellion has encouraged bad actions from the surrounding nations who are celebrating the destruction of God’s people.
So, God’s people are reaping the consequence for their actions just like we often reap the consequence for what we do. In my case when I was younger, it was a spanking; and it hurt… bad. However, you bet I remembered it next time I wanted to say something sassy.
How many times do we find ourselves in this situation?
We think our plans are better or more enjoyable so we say, “no” to anything contrary to that plan we have. It’s hard to be torn between what we think is best and to see that door close only for one that doesn’t seem as appealing to open.
One thing I found interesting was that after most verses where God is speaking harsh consequences over the people, we read the words “And they will know that I am the Lord.”
When we’re walking through hard things that cause us to ask the question, “How is God good?” we find the answer when we do the very thing He wants us to do: know Him.
He wants us to seek Him, and when we seek Him we find Him. He wants us to realize our need to depend on Him because when we quit saying, “no” and start saying, “yes,” we realize how good He really is and how good His plans are to prosper us.
My parents didn’t discipline because they thought it was fun and they enjoyed doing it (though I’m sure sometimes my stubbornness was enough to drive them through a wall- nothing’s changed!). They disciplined because they love me. They love me enough to teach me the way I should walk so I don’t stray.
Like our parents discipline us, God loves us enough to not let us stray. He wants us to follow after Him. He wants us to experience the life and goodness He gives. We just need to accept the gift.
He has to teach us the things we need to learn so we can grow into the person He needs us to be for the purpose He has for us.
He’s growing us and teaching us things we couldn’t learn without the discipline. And just like my parents had good intentions I couldn’t see at the time, God has more than intentions. He has good PLANS for us to follow if we only quit saying, “no” and start saying, “yes” – even when that’s hard to see in the moment.
We can’t miss what God is doing because we are failing to see the ways He is working.
He wants us to succeed. He wants to do what’s best for us; and in order for that to happen, we might have to experience some discomfort. However, that never means He isn’t good. It means His love for us is a Fatherly love. He wants what’s best for us.
Ezekiel is part of the Old Testament, which means the New Testament hasn’t happened. Thank goodness the story keeps going. Although the people kept saying, “no” and receiving harsh consequences, God loved them enough to give His son Jesus to die on a cross for them and for me and for you.
If you’ve ever felt like you’ve made a mistake that’s too big for God to forgive, check out what I wrote here (click where it says “here”. You haven’t.
The answer to the question: God is good because He loves us enough to do what’s best for us. God is good because He loves us even when we mess up and go against Him. God is good because He is God.
2 Comments
Debbie
You bless my heart every week with these. Keep writing and sharing your heart, sweet girl. The world needs more of you!
Karan
So good!