G - "GOOD, GOOD GOD"
For many days now, I have been pondering this thought, "God is a Good God". I know we sing, "God is a good God and He's worthy to be praised" at church, but then, when something undesireable happens, we blame God for the "bad" that just occured. So.......tell me, is God a Good, Good God" all the time??? Is He a Good God who does good or does He change His mind periodically and do harm, damage and evil to His people to teach them something or some other argument we create to attempt to justify what we do not understand?
Psalm 119:68 - You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.
Nahum 1:7 - The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
Psalm 145:9 - The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
I present to you the Truth! God IS Good - All the time, All the TIME!
So, I've been thinking how easily God's people tend to complain about what bad they think God has done and blame Him for what has happened. Several things come to my mind as I have been pondering.
#.1 - The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].
Who comes to steal? The thief!
Who comes to kill? The thief!
Who comes to destroy? The thief!
So.....if what is happening to me is either stealing, killing or destroying .... Who is the culprit?????? The thief!!!!!
So.......do not blame God because Jesus came so that we would have life in abundance till it overflows.
Have - Have, Hold and Possess
Life - life, both of physical (present) and of spiritual (particularly future) existence
Abundantly - exceedingly in abundance of, superior, superabundant, til it overflows.
God IS our Good, Good God - That IS Who He Is!!!!!
John 10:11 - I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His [own] life for the sheep.
#2. The majority of people, christian and non christian, view things in life as they see it by their own eyes, their own ears, their own understanding and their own experience. Few have learned to view things from God's point of view, especially in difficult times. Few stop to inquire of God for His perspective on what is going on. Few are willing to lay aside the natural report and seek to understand things from the spiritual vantage point.
Isaiah 55:8-9 - For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I have heard people say....See! Our thoughts are not God's thoughts, so we will never understand Him or His ways. However, that way of responding is not at all consistent with the Word of God.
We are told to search the Scriptures (Acts 17:11); Get (acquire) wisdom (Proverbs 4:7); the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel (Proverbs 20:15);
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18).
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:5
It seems pretty clear, in just these few scriptures, that we are to grow in the knowledge of Him and cast away our human thoughts and acquire for ourselves God's way of thinking and perceiving things. So, I encourage you. Don't evaluate things according to your way of seeing and understanding things. Ask God to help you understand things from His point of view.
Then I was thinking of how the Israelites, after leaving the slave life in Egypt, found themselves boxed in between the Red Sea and the Egyptians, who were in pursuit of them. Their viewpoint of the situation is found in:
Exodus 14:10-12 - When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
They were accusing God of things that were not at all God's intention and things that did not at all include God's plans for their deliverance. They only evaluated things from their eyes, ears, emotions, fear and experience.
If, they would have truly known their God, they would have had a different report. Something more like, " We know you are a Good God. You brought us out from slavery to these Egyptians who are now pursuing us. You told us you are taking us to The Promised Land. This is not it. This is not looking good to our eyes, but we know You! You are a Good God. You cannot Lie! Your Word is True, You are Faithful, You WILL Do what You said You would Do....You ARE bringing us to the Promised Land. We don't know how You are going to fix this problem, but we know you are working on it because You are our Good and Faithful God. They would have bowed down in Worship to their God. They would have Praised Him for Who He IS. They would have given Him Thanks for the deliverance He was in process of bringing them from the enemies who were after them. Not because there was any physical evidence to that end, but because they would have been looking at things from the spiritual view, not the natural view. They would have been great people of Faith in their Almighty God because they would have known their God was a Good and Faithful God!
This verse actually explains what God was thinking:
Exodus 13:17 - When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, though it was shorter. For God said, “If the people face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
We know how God, in His love and mercy, rescued the Israelites and destroyed the Egyptians as we read on in Exodus 14:15-31.
Meditate on the following verses regarding our Good God and grow in maturity and Faith in Him, so that when trouble comes, you are a worshipper of God, not a complainer because you know who your enemy is and what he comes to do and you know Who your God is and what He comes to bring us....Life and Life More Abundantly - That Is Who Our God IS!!!!! The Giver of Abundant Life now and in the future.
Psalm 34:7 - Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Romans 8:28 -And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Matthew 19:17 - And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.
Psalm 107:1 - Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
James 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, thato
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