Growing up in my tiny Baptist church, we had a fun little game we liked to play. Any time the pastor would say “God is good” we would say “all the time.” Any time the pastor said “all the time” we would say “God is good.” You probably played the same game or some variation. The question is will we say those words when life isn’t good.

My good friend John Allison often tells the story of how God revealed his goodness to him while on a mission trip to China. It wasn’t while standing on the Great Wall, or on top of a beautiful mountian. No. The revelation of God’s goodness came to John with his arms wrapped around a toilet, pukeing his guts out, thousands of miles away from home. Life was not good, but God was.

No matter what our lives look like, no matter how we feel, God is still good and just and righteous. We may not like what God is doing or allowing to happen, but it doesn’t change the fact that He is good.

Our goal as Christians can’t be to lead a happy life, because to word of God say that in this life we will have trouble. If we gadge God’s goodness by our happiness, we miss the mark and blame God for our sorrows. But if put or hope and trust in His goodness then we can always say “God is good” and sing “it is well with my soul”…. I told you it was a baptist church :)

PT