Often when we pray, we do so "just in case" it might help, but we don't usually expect God to actually come through. Why do Christians have such a hard time trusting in God's goodness? This devotional looks at the reasons and then concludes with some strategies for allowing ourselves to fully trust in God's goodness.
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God Is Good
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Romans 8:28
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
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"...there is no foundation for comfort in the enjoyments of this life, but in the assurance that a wise and good God governeth the world..." - William Law
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We need to ask God for help in all difficult situations, large or small. God wants us to ask and He stands ready to help us, but we have to be prepared to accept His solution according to His timing. He knows how and when to work things out.
Asking for help is easy and costs us nothing except a few moments of our time. Most Christians do this frequently and automatically whenever difficulties present themselves, but there is usually a little shade of doubt that their prayers will do any good. We tend to petition God "just-in-case" it might actually help, but in reality, we surreptitiously expect that either circumstance aren't going to work out, or that we are going to have to get the job done ourselves.
For the most part, we live as though we believe in an impersonal, disinterested Creator. We understand intellectually that God is in charge, but practically, we go about our business as though He's nowhere to be found and that we're going to have to steer the ship in His absence.
We fail to live in the truth of Romans 8:28 because subconsciously, we don't fully believe that God is good. We don't believe that He loves us, nor do we completely trust that He has our best interests at heart. To use a phrase of author John Eldredge, 'we suspect that God is holding out on us'.
Why do we hold onto these doubts when scripture is so unambiguous about God's endless love and immeasurable goodness?
First, many of our relationships on Earth result in betrayal. We believe that we can't really trust anyone because so often when we trust someone close to us, they let us down. This leaves many of us wondering if we can really trust God to come through when we need Him the most. We especially tend to relate to God in the same way as we related to our earthly fathers when we were young. We unintentionally ascribe to Him the same failings and deficiencies we witnessed in our own father. If our father was not around when we needed him, we expect God to be absent too. If our father was especially strict or had difficulty expressing his love for us, then we expect God to be the same. Relating to God as a loving Father is especially difficult for those whose own father was abusive.
Secondly, undermining our belief that God is good and trustworthy is one of the oldest and most powerful weapons that Satan wields. It began long ago in the Garden. "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:4-5)
One can almost see the changing expression on Eve's face as she wonders, "Really? Should I not trust God? Did He lie to me?" The Devil will do whatever he can to make you doubt God's benevolence and cause you to ask the question,
"Is He holding out on me"?
Finally, our lack of trust in God stems from the observation that this fallen world can be so exceptionally evil. All we can do is wonder at the meaning of it, for we lack God's ability to see how all the puzzle pieces are going to come together in the end to form a beautiful picture. For us, the world just seems to be a random, chaotic collage. We cannot see the glorious pattern God is weaving though it all, and so we wonder in the midst of this confusion if He has walked away and abandoned the world to its own devices.
How, then, can we overcome our reluctance to trust in God and His goodness?
First, we need to understand what is really meant by the phrase, "God is good." What it does not mean is that there is some universally accepted standard of goodness which, if we are to judge His motives and character, God can always be counted on to meet. If this were so, where did this standard come from? Who is able to stand in judgment of God to rate His goodness according to this standard?
The phrase "God is good" is not telling us anything about God's performance or record of achievement. The phrase does not, in fact, it does not tell us anything at all about God. The statement, rather, is telling us about that standard of goodness. It does not answer the question, "What is God like?" It answers the question, "What is goodness like?", and the answer is God.
It would be meaningless to even try to judge God by the very standard which He defines by His being. It would be like trying to judge the wetness of pure water, since water is the very essence that defines wetness. There is no higher authority than God by which we can make an appeal to the nature of right and wrong. Whatever He decrees to be good is good and whatever He decrees to be evil is evil.
The application of this important concept is simply this: we must be wary of judging God. We do this whenever we harbor expectations about what we think God should or should not do in any given situation. We "expect" God to heal our friend with cancer, or we "expected" Him to stop that drunk driver who took the life of our loved one. It's so easy to doubt God's goodness whenever we think we know what's right or wrong, and to then turn around and accuse Him of clearly missing the mark of an obvious standard of righteousness. It's especially easy when the Enemy is whispering in our ear, casting aspersions.
We have to let go of our expectations of God. His plan is good, and for some reason beyond our comprehension, it does sometimes include allowing death, war and disease. I don't know why God sometimes determines it's necessary to allow evil, while other times He intervenes to prevent it. I don't understand His total plan from beginning to end. But I know it's good.
What a huge, daunting responsibility it is to require ourselves to understand the entirety of His plan before we will trust Him! If we will instead step back and trust in His inherent goodness, never question His motives and restrain the impulse to judge God when we don't understand, we will have much greater peace when trouble comes.
If you're struggling with trusting God's goodness, as most of us do, ask the Holy Spirit to help you now. Pray that the pride that causes you to hold God in judgment will be lifted away. When things don't make sense and you cannot see how good will ever come from tragedy, ask the Holy Spirit to humble you so that you can overcome the need to understand God's purposes and simply trust and abide in His perfect goodness.
God is Good!!
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