God is good.
We have all heard that statement before, and know that because the bible says so, it has to be true.
For me however the goodness of God is something that I am continuously trying to understand. Something that I am trying to grasp, and something I am trying to believe.
It is hard for me to believe that God is good, when you open your eyes and see what is going on around you. When we were in Nepal we prayed over this very sick little baby girl for hours, and she still ended up dying. In Malaysia we prayed every day for the entire month over this little girl Glory, and watched her get sicker and sicker. In Cambodia I went to the Killing Fields and the S21 museum, both of which are memorials of the Khmer Rouge. I spent hours looking at mass graves which hold hundreds of children that had died during the Khmer Rogue by getting their heads smashed against trees. I also saw the cells in the prison that were about the size of half of a bathtub, that was where the prisoners lived the last days of their lives. It's in those moments i had to find the Goodness of God. In those moments it is hard. Its so so hard. It’s in times of pain, of sickness, and of death that we most often look for the goodness of God, and find nothing.
We fail to see the goodness of the Father because we are so caught up in waning what we consider “good” to be done in every situation (read more about the two stories of the little girls here) When we look at a sick child it is only natural to long to see a healing. To see life flood back into them and hear them cry out. The good that we want to see in most situations really is good, but it’s in most cases not the best good for that situation. His good typically far out ways the good that we want to see. The problem is that we are too caught up in wanting to see our own good that we can’t see His divine good.
We fail to see His good because we are so busy looking for God’s goodness in the big things, so often I find myself looking for the instant gratification, looking for the healing, and the miracles. Its in those moments where I am looking for the Goodness of God. Thats all wrong however. Its not in the big things that the Father shows He is good, its in the little things. What I mean to say, is that He IS good in the big things, just not usually good in the ways that we want Him to be, like I said before. He is good in unexpected ways, but ultimately better ways then the good we were looking for.
What I am starting to realize however is that when we start looking for the goodness of God ONLY in the big things, thats when it starts to become a problem. When we are only seeing His goodness when he moves in big ways, then we miss His goodness in the every day moments. When we are focusing on the big things we start mission out on all the times he is good to us throughout the day. Like that one day in Cambodia when i was exhausted and tired of my team, and hot. It was at that moment that our contact offered to take me on his motorbike to get iced coffee. I got to ride on the back of a motorcycle down the twisting back roads of Cambodia watching the amazing sun set behind the mountains, and the greenest never ending rice fields. Thats the Lords goodness. Then on my birthday, when I was missing my friends and family, four different people called me to wish me happy birthday, and my team showered me in love. That was the Lords goodness also.
When we get so caught up in looking for God in the big things, we forget to see God in the little things. We begin to miss out on so much that God has for us. How can we expect to see God’s goodness when those big situations do come along, when we aren't able to see Him in the little things every day. How am I going to be able to see the goodness of the Father in the Khmer Rouge, or in the street kids huffing glue outside the grocery store, when I don’t even try to see the goodness of His in the delicious food we get every day, or in the little girls here that cover us in adoration.
I challenge you all to join me, and to look for the goodness of the Father in your lives today, in the ordinary things. See His goodness in your children's laughter, and in the fact that you are able to walk and talk. See his goodness in your home, and in your Job. See His goodness in those little things, so that when those hard time come, you will be able to see His goodness there as well.
