Questioning God’s Goodness
How is God good if He has thrown me in the pit of despair? Sometimes I struggle to believe that where God placed me is good or that He has given me His best. Why would He take good things from me or allow my heart to be shattered?
Friend, God sees the bigger picture of our lives. He sees the beginning and the end! He loves us and sees the end of what we will learn about His presence and provision as we depend on Him through the difficulty we are in right now. Certainly, His heart weeps with us in the pit, but it doesn’t mean He isn’t good because He is allowing it.
I’m sure Joseph questioned God in the pit! He was stripped of all that was dear to him—his possession (his robe) and his father and brother. Or Job when the worst came upon Him and his wife told him to curse God and die!
Living in the Middle
We read the middle of their stories with the knowledge of the end. But they didn’t know the end while they were in that long, painful middle. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if we could go to them in the middle of their story and say wait, you have no idea how God is going to show up and the good He is going to do through the pit or all the losses. He hasn’t forsaken you as you thought. He is there, working in the silence and confusion. He loves you!
What if we could have that glimpse now and be assured that God will come through in our situation?
God’s Redemptive Plan
We see from their stories that God is always good, and what he took them through was ultimately for good—to show them and others His heart for the suffering and how He works redemption. He is working behind the scenes in what looks like the greatest catastrophe. He had a plan for Joseph and for Job. I’m sure in eternity they no longer question God, but see it as He sees and possibly even thank him for the pit and trials—for it was there that they found His power, provision, and redemption. Not only for them but for the good of others—to save a multitude of people alive!
What if we will rejoice for all of eternity because of how God worked our greatest afflictions for our good and the good of others?
We were created to find fulfillment in knowing Him, not the good gifts He gives us or in the absence of suffering. The trial in front of you is possibly the thing that God is using to lead you to the greatest fulfillment and joy you’ve ever known. Maybe the greatest redemption of your soul, and even the redemption of others.
Rejoicing in the Darkness
Maybe we can rejoice some day in eternity that the things He took and the darkness we walked through was indeed the most loving thing He could do. Through it we found Him, we found life, and we found redemption.
