The Goodness of God: Knowing His Goodness no Matter our Circumstances
Have you ever had a day where you needed a do over? Simply crawl back into bed, sleep, and wake up again knowing that surely things will be much better than what you just experienced. I know I have. I have faced the hard, sad, fearful, overwhelmed days sometimes well, and sometimes not so much. The learning curve for such moments has been steep at times. But I am understanding that the key to making it through the hardest days, and really any day, is not with my own strength, but clinging to the constant goodness of God.
These are the Days
It started out as a typical Wednesday morning. I got up and got ready for a day of teaching Macbeth. I turned onto the highway and felt my car do something weird, so I pulled onto the shoulder. I thought to myself, “You left in plenty of time. You will make it to hall duty. You got this!” I got of my car and looked, and I had flat tire. I did not have a clue on how to change a tire (and still don’t). I did what any reasonable girl in distress might do: I pulled out all the things from my trunk that I would need to change a tire and sat there waiting for someone driving by to feel sorry for me. Luckily, I did not have to wait long!
Some men stopped, changed my tire, and helped me get on with my “I got this!” kind of day. I rolled along and got to school with a minute to spare before my hall duty. And I still had a fabulous attitude! The bell rang for all to go to class, but I still needed to sign in for the day. I rounded the corner into the office, and the next thing I know, I am on the ground! Could not tell you how it happened, only that it happened. Of course, this all occurred while all the high schoolers were going to their classes. Yep, not the day I had planned. Needless to say, it was a do-over kind of day.
This is a benign story compared to many of our other stories. We may be able to readily acknowledge the goodness of God with this type of story, but what about when the cancer diagnosis happens, the death of loved one occurs, or the divorce arises? Facing such circumstances may lead us to second guess God’s goodness. However, even amid such hardships, there are opportunities to know that God’s goodness never waivers.
Philippians 4:11-13 is a testimony to trusting in God’s goodness beyond our circumstances. Paul faced so much distress, yet he did not waiver in trusting in the goodness of God. He declared that he could be content in whatever circumstances he was enduring because he put his faith in God. For it is God that gave him the strength to acknowledge, walk through, and overcome his circumstances. As it was for Paul, so it can be for us as well.
Three ways to hold onto God’s Goodness
1) Acknowledge what is
When hard things happen, we sometimes try to ignore the pain, fear, or sadness of our circumstances. We claim “I’m fine. It’s fine. Everything is fine.” Or “God’s got this! I don’t need to worry.” While it is true that God is sovereign, and he sees us and our pain, using statements such as this may lead us to spiritually bypass the pain of what we are experiencing which can lead to delaying our healing from our pain.
God is not disappointed when we acknowledge our pain, fear, hurt, worry, and ____(you fill in the blank). Acknowledging our circumstances does not negate his goodness, his power. In fact, acknowledging what we are enduring provides opportunity for us to experience his supernatural strength. Like Paul, we can proclaim, “And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty” (Philippians 4:13, TPT).
2) Walking through it
There is a misperception that still lingers in this world that if we come to know Christ, we will not face hardships. Whether this be due to a prosperity gospel or one of the schemes the enemy likes to use to draw us away from Christ (or both), it is a lie. The disciples who walked with Christ, Paul who encountered Christ on the Damascus road and became one of the greatest writers of the New Testament, faced hardships and even death for their faith in Christ. Like them, we will face hardships as well.
Paul states that he has learned to be content in whatever circumstances he is facing (Phil. 4:11-12, NIV). The word content in this passage is a Stoic term (autarkēs). Dr. Bob Utley notes that the Stoic philosophers employed this term translated "contented" as the objective of their philosophical thought, which was an apathetic disconnect from life's affairs, "a self-sufficiency." Paul did not claim to be self-sufficient, but rather that he was Jesus-sufficient ("in the Lord," Phil. 4:10). God's peace is not dependent on our circumstances, but rather on Christ's goodness. It is a beautiful declaration of Paul's trust in God's moment-by-moment provision "in Christ."
Paul claims that he knows what is to have much and have nothing, fed well or hungry (Phil. 4:12, NIV). Notice Paul did not deny his experiences of being in need or being hungry. He acknowledged it and continued to walk through his experiences because he trusted in the sufficiency of Christ. He recognized his strength to endure these tough circumstances did not come from within himself, but from Christ alone.
Our “need” or “hunger” today may look different than Paul’s. Whatever it may be that we are enduring, it may lead us to feel helpless, powerless, and out of control at times. These are not moments of God leaving us but leaning into us. He provides us opportunity to accept his rest, hope, and love while walking through our hardest of times, to find contentment in the sufficiency in him.
3) Overcoming the hardships
Overcoming hardships can be laborious. One thing after another keeps coming at us until there may be no more tears to cry, fists to swing, or words to yell. We are tired, angry, scared, lonely, and a multitude of other emotions. We are in the thick of the muck and mire, and we may be wondering if God’s goodness for us has run out.
However, part of our questioning mid the hard times may be because we misunderstand overcoming is. We may perceive it as the hardships disappear, or they end in the way we wanted or percieve is best. But that is not overcoming. Rather, the overcoming of difficulties, heartaches, and tragedies is in knowing the secret to which Paul speaks (Phil. 4:12, NIV): that God’s goodness is always present because he is always present; it is not dependent on our circumstances.
Lysa Terkeurst Adams asked this question at a recent conference I attended, “How would your life change if you absolutely believed in the goodness of God?” Paul experienced strength, David experienced hope, the disciples experienced peace. Their circumstances were not removed and not all ended as they desired; however, the goodness of God remained and they received what his goodness offered: strength, hope, and peace.
Final Thoughts
God’s goodness does not come and go. It is a part of God’s character. Whatever circumstances we are facing, the goodness of God is constant. When we face the hard times, we can acknowledge them, walk through them, and overcome them not because of our own strength and goodness, but because we “can do all things through him who gives us strength,” even strength to cling to the goodness of God.