Psalm 34
1 I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

I spoke with a woman last night who is really struggling with understanding God after the loss of her husband, sister and mother. All three happened in such a way that the memory of each passing was left unresolved. I realized that she hasn’t been able to move past them because she wasn’t expecting things to occur as they did, and she doesn’t understand why God would allow those things to happen. They are like skips in a record that causes her to stay in an infinite loop of questioning God and never moving beyond it.

From what we discussed, the issue really boiled down to whether or not God is good. Her question she couldn’t get past was “why God would create man if some of them would go to hell”, and that basically is really questioning His goodness. She will need to settle that question before she can move forward in her faith.

As I shared with her, I believe that God’s only goal for creating mankind was to love them and have them freely love Him in return. That means allowing some to reject Him of their own free will. God doesn’t send anyone to Hell – people choose to live without Him. That is all a part of free will. Just as when we have children, we know that they may love us or reject us, they may make us proud or make us ashamed. But we still choose to have those children, because we want to love them and have them love us. We take that risk whenever we choose to have children.

As soon as you move into “why” questions, you are trying to understand God’s infinite thoughts with a human limited mind. We will never have all of those answers here on earth. At some point, we all have to move beyond our demands for answers we can see and understand and into living by faith instead of sight.

Either He is good and we choose to trust His goodness, even in the face of things we cannot comprehend, or He is not good, which makes Him evil instead, and we cannot trust Him. I’m praying God will communicate what you specifically need to reinforce your faith in His goodness. Being in His presence is what confirms it for me every time, because that is where I can taste and see that the Lord is Good.

QUESTIONS FOR THE DAY:
1) How do you know that God is good?
2) When bad things happen, how can you remind yourself of God’s infinite goodness and wisdom despite what you see with your eyes?