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When we make the statement that God is
good, what do we mean by good?
Our natural tendency is to believe that if God
is good and He loves mankind, then He will make life pleasant for us.
Consequently, when things go well for us, we're inclined to
think that God is good, and when they don't, we question His goodness or
even His existence.
Our current happiness is not a standard by
which to judge God's goodness.
We are not the center of the universe, not the
reference point against which goodness can be judged. It sounds silly even
to say it, but we act and think as though God's goodness depends on how
well we like what's going on.
We are not in a position to judge the goodness
of God's actions. We see too small a part of the overall picture — a
picture that covers all of time and all of mankind.
The only way for us to know whether God is
good is to get to know Him, to experience His character first hand.
When God reveals Himself to us, then we
know that He is good.
That is our experience of Him. Goodness beyond imagining,
goodness that is pure and true and complete.
When we know that God is good, then we
begin to see Him bringing good out of sufferings and tragedies.
This is the form God's goodness takes in our world: He
works to bring every person to a knowledge of Himself and to an active
relationship with Himself.
This is goodness: to know God, to experience His love and
guidance in our lives.
Is God good? There is no other good
but God. He is the source of everything that is good.
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