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Deuteronomy 30:9 (KJV)
9 And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of
thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in
the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee
for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:
From the very beginning of creation the
enemy has been at work to deceive us. He does not want us to experience the
goodness of God. He had the opportunity to savor the goodness of God but he
refused it by his rebellion. He knows what he lost and he is bent on causing
as many as possible to not ever taste the goodness of God.
So how does he deceive us into thinking
that God is not good? He raises doubt in our minds by pointing out all the
problems in this world. Perhaps you have heard his voice lately, it may have
sounded much like this, "If God is so good why is there so much evil and
suffering? If God is so good why do innocent babies starve to death? If God
is so good why do you have to hurt so much? If God is so good, why so much
pain?"
And on and on the indictments of God go. If
you listen to them you will find yourself believing the lie that God is not
good and you have no reason to believe in him. It was this way from the very
beginning. He planted doubt in Eve's mind about the goodness of God. His
method was to cause her to doubt the goodness of God because he was holding
out on her. If he really was good then he should let her eat from the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, but since he commanded her not to eat from it he
was keeping something from her that would be for her good.
You have had those thoughts haven't you?
Perhaps you are having them even now as read this article. "If God was
good why am I hurting so much? If he really was good I would not have to hurt
at all. Since I am hurting then God must not be good so I will not believe in
him. If God was really here my life would be much better. Since I believed in
God things have not improved, in fact they have become even more
difficult."
The voices have done their work and you
perhaps have reached the conclusion that God is either, not good, or the God
of the Bible does not exist. What do you do with all of these thoughts? How
do you discover the goodness of God? There is only one way you can discover
the goodness of God again, that is to go to the cross and see his goodness
displayed openly for you. Hear these words ring out over your life once
again.
:
Romans 5:6-10 (KJV)
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died
for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth
his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him.10 For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life.
Do you
see it now? Can you hear the goodness of God sounding out over your sea of
doubt? "God commends his love towards you, while you were yet a sinner
Christ died for you." You who had become the very example of evil by
your rebellion and should have been executed swiftly under the wrath of God
have been saved from his wrath and made a partaker of his grace forever by
the sheer unmerited favor of God in Christ.
The
enemy has done his best work in raising the doubt about the goodness of God
but our God has done his best work through the cross and destroyed the work
of the devil by sending his son to die for us. John says it best in this way,
1 John 3:8 (KJV)
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth
from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil.
The
revelation of Christ on the cross dying in our place is designed by God to
once and for all destroy any thoughts that would cause us to think that God
was not good.
So cheer
up saints of God our God has come to do us good forever. We know that God causes
all things to work together for the good of those who love him and are called
according to his purpose.
Rejoicing
in the Goodness of God today,
Pastor Phil
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