In 1999 I was in a very serious car accident. I had all six children with me and I was 10 weeks pregnant when I lost control of my suburban and rolled it, landing upside down in a wheat field. It was the most traumatic thing that I had ever endured and it wrecked me emotionally and spiritually.
I was consumed with depression, anxiety and flashbacks of the accident. I hardly left my house and I didn't drive for months.
One evening I was at church for a gathering and a staff person asked how I was doing. I'm sure I said the typical, "I'm doing really good!" because then they responded with "God is so good!" That statement bothered me. Friends kept saying it when they heard what happened. I remember thinking, "No way is he good! If he was, he wouldn't have let this happen to me!"
Do we really understand what the goodness of God is? I know that in 1999, I didn't understand it. My thinking of God and his goodness was all wrong.
Elisabeth Elliot said, "We can't really tell how crooked our thinking is until we line it up with the straight edge of scripture."
So, let's see what scripture says about goodness.
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
..your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
This is not an exhaustive list of scriptures on goodness. I encourage you to go do your own word study on this. You will be so encouraged and blessed by it.
When we feast upon the word of God we taste his goodness and are satisfied in Him!
According to these scriptures, Gods goodness is a gift wrapped in mercy (Exodus 33:19), that will follow us all our lives (Psalm 23:6), as we dwell in it (Psalm 68:10)and enjoy the greatness of it (Zechariah 9:17). We must recognize that only God is good but that it is in that goodness that we are saved by faith, according to his mercy.
God is the source of all goodness and is the measure of what good is!
Romans 8:28 reminds that all God does in our life is for our good as his purpose for us is accomplished.
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
This verse is often misquoted or taken out of context. But when you view this verse in light of what we just learned from the scriptures above it should be a little more clear.
What is good according to this verse? This is where my thinking was all wrong because I associated this "good" with only blessings & favor, but there so much more to it. Mark 10:18 tells us that only God is good. The greek word used in this verse is the same as used in Romans 8:28.
Could it be this "good" is meant to grow us in godliness? Could it be God is using "all things" to make us more like him?
The answer is yes.
I had to stop viewing the goodness of God only as what the world considers good and see it as it is...becoming more like him. Sometimes his goodness doesn't feel good, it's painful, miserable, unthinkable, unbelievable...but it is still his goodness and I'm learning to praise him for all of it.
That means our trials, adversity, excruciating circumstances are the goodness of God just as is the favor, prosperous, pleasant and happy times God brings to our lives.
This sheds a whole new light on my life as a godly woman and how I am to respond to circumstances in my life. When I respond to trials as a sharpening of my faith I find joy in the goodness of God. His mercy is so great and I'm so thankful he doesn't leave me in my sin but by his goodness he has washed me clean so that I may worship him and give him all the glory!
I don't know if that staff member who told me how good God is realized how he upset me, but as I look back I'm thankful he said it. It showed me how wrong my thinking of God was. Over the next 18 months I fought and I struggled and then the goodness of God consumed me and I surrendered to him. I experienced his grace and mercy in ways I never had before. He broke me and then restored me and his joy is mine!
By His Spirit and through His goodness I can be a woman of mercy and wisdom, patient and forgiving who embraces her trials to grow in godliness.
