When all is well, it is easy to say that God is good and that we love him. But the Christian life is sometimes difficult; we all go through storms. Is God still good when we suffer?
In one of his books, Max Lucado told a story that dramatically changed his attitude towards God. All his family had been invited to a barbecue with friends and everyone had a great day. The laughter and the conversation were so cheerful that no one noticed that one of Max Lucado’s daughters was at the bottom of the swimming pool, inert. One of the guests finally saw her, jumped into the water and retrieved the girl and started doing CPR. The father was distraught and prayed God to save her and, to the great relief of all, the girl began to breathe again. Max Lucado remembers taking his daughter in his arms, looking up to heaven and saying to God, “Thank you Lord for saving her! Thanks, thanks! You’re so good!” In his heart, he then heard this word from God: “Would you still say that I’m good if I hadn’t saved your daughter?”
God is good, no matter our circumstances. God loves us even when we are having hard times. He does not like to see us suffer, just as a parent does not like to see their child suffer. He knows the present, the past and the future, and sometimes, He acts or does not act for all kinds of reasons. But the heart of God does not change. He is love, He is good, He is patient, He is just, no matter what happens to us.
The rest of our relationship with Him, therefore, depends on us. Are we going to change our affection for Him, our submission, our devotion, according to our circumstances? We all know Romans 8:35 (NKJV): “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” And then we quote with joy, and hope, the following verses that say nothing can separate us from his love. And it’s absolutely true: nothing will stop God from loving us.
But, can you turn this verse around? Could tribulation, anguish, persecution, hunger (or any lack) change your love for God? If God is slow in presenting you with a charming bachelor, will your affection for God change?
It is when our heart begins to be troubled that the enemy becomes effective. It is when we begin to believe that God does not really have our best interests at heart, that we begin to separate from Him. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent first sowed doubt in Eve. “If God does not want you to eat from this tree, it’s because He does not want you to be like Him! It would be much better to be like Him, so deep down, God does not really have your interest at heart, He does not really want the best for you, forbidding you from this tree. ”
The snake still acts like this today. “God does not really care about your well-being; It does not matter to him that you feel alone. You have carnal desires; it’s really insensitive of God to not give you the right to satiate them!” And suddenly, sin seems logical and satisfying. It’s when we forget that God really loves us that we start doing things our way, without consulting him.
God does not want us to stay completely still either. Proverbs 3:6 (NKJV) says: “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” The verse here speaks of “our ways” which means the path we are walking on. God will not direct the path in front of us if we are motionless. What He wants is for us to walk according to His advice. We can tell him our plans and ask him what he thinks before moving forward. “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” (Psalms 37:5 NKJV) God does not always bring it to pass the way we want, but we can trust Him when we know that He has our good at heart.
God is good. God loves us at all times. We must now ask ourselves: has our love for Him, our trust in Him, changed? A time of repentance and worship will bring you back to the right place.