God's Goodness

Sometimes life throws you curveballs. You never really see them coming. I’d be lying if I said this past year was stress-free. It wasn’t at all. It was actually filled with struggles and lots of them. I’m not going to lie to you, sometimes I questioned God and his goodness. I would be making plans for my life, plans about the future and telling God that I would submit them to him but then when something didn’t go according to plan I would freak out. I would be reciting Proverbs 16:9 one second and then when my plans fell through I would cry out to God saying “Why did you do this to me? I’ve trusted you so why didn’t you make this work out the way I wanted?” Did you catch that? I wanted things to work out the way “I” wanted them to and if my plans just so happened to lineup with God’s plan for me, well then hot dog I was doing good. What an ugly mindset to have. Here I would be praising God when he was blessing me but the second something didn’t go my way and I would have to fully rely on God and his goodness when a situation wasn’t turning out the way I planned I was all “God, are you really good?” I screw up all the time and I cling to things, people of this world to make me happy. I’ve pushed God to the back burner but kept him on low just in case something goes wrong. Just in case this guy doesn’t fulfill me and make me happy like I expect he will. Just in case my worldly pleasure ends with consequences I don’t want to face. Yet, God is still there for me. So is God good? Well let me answer that question. Yes. God is good. All the time. He is good even when my future is unsure. He is good even when my heart is broken. He is good when there’s nothing good in me. In his scripture countless times he proves that he is with us and wants what’s best for us.

“He will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

“All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8

And then I’m like “Seriously, Jenny. Look at all the blessings God has provided you.” Honestly. I am blessed with the greatest friends and family in the whole entire universe! (My opinion may be a little biased.) There aren’t enough words to express how much I love each and every one of them. I am also blessed that I have a God who loved me so much that he sent his one and only son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for my sins thousands of years ago so that a sinner like me could have a clean slate. God loves me unconditionally; no matter how far I run from him, no matter how many times I fail him, my God loves me and I am precious in his sight. How can I ever doubt God’s goodness with a love like that?  

Now does this mean I’m never going to doubt God again? No, because I’m broken and I’m sinful. I’m merely a reflection of the God who created me. However, that does mean that in times of confusion and chaos and pain I need to cling to the truths of God as his word. I need to cry out to God and be honest with my struggles. I need to admit that I can’t do this on my own and that I actually don’t know what’s best for me. I need to set my pride aside. The God who made the stars in the sky and the water in the sea, the one who knit me together in my mother’s womb, he is the one who knows what’s best for me. Why? Because he loves me.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved

1 John 4:9-11 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.