Tuesday, March 30, 2010

God is Good All the Time, All the TIme God is Good


“Faith says not ‘It is good for me, so God must have sent it’, but ‘God sent it, so it must be good for me”. Phillips Brooks

In reading this quote for the day it took me a couple of times through it in order to get it to click in my brain, but what’s new. Ha ha, no comments from the peanut gallery out there!

I don’t know about you but I think this is what people are all about. It always seems to take us a couple of times through something before it clicks what the true message, blessing, purpose, truth of the matter is all about. Okay, I lied! For people like me it takes maybe three or four or twenty times through. Hey! What did I say about no comments from the peanut gallery?! Anyway there you have my Tuesday morning confession now on with the story.

Several years ago Satan baited an old familiar trap with me that he likes to use on everyone. It’s a trap that should be well worn out by now yet it seems to work like new on each and every up and coming generation. The trap of getting us to think, “This is good for me so it must be from God.” What was going on in my life at the time wasn’t necessarily from God. I was trying to justify falling for a temptation and labeled it, “from God.”

Long after I made my journey I heard a fellow Christian begin to fall for the same trap. She was entering into one of Satan’s temptations with both feet forward and claiming because the Lord wanted her to be happy she was therefore justified doing something God clearly says in the Bible not to do. To her, her situation was exempt for the sake of her to be “happy.”

Although God wants His children to be “Happy” it doesn’t always work that way. There are times we are going to run up against unhappiness, hard and tough times that about break us. Even though they are not “good” times they come from God just as well for a reason. We need to step away from Satan’s traps and realize anything God sends us is good for us. Even if it doesn’t seem to be good or pleasant at the time, it may seem very unlikable but the bottom-line is if it’s from God it is good for us in the long run.

It all comes down to a matter of trusting in the Lord to know what is best for His children. If He can lead the Israelites through the desert like He did He is capable of leading us through life as well. It’s not for us to question “why” things happen as we all tend to do but our job is to trust God with our “whys, worries, concerns, and doubts.” It can’t be any simpler than merely believing “If it’s from God then it must be good.”

Years ago in our church the pastor started something that seemed to catch on. Whenever the moment seemed to be appropriate as he preached he would say, “God is good all the time.” And the congregation knew to respond, “All the time God is good.” We should never doubt that fact. We should never look for anything other than that. We should never justify the good we want by replacing it with the good God gives us. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Believe it, trust it, have faith in it. Amen!


© 2010 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

5 comments:

Nic said...

Oh, Karen, what a wonderfully different perspective on today's quote! I always look forward to your ponderances on the IOW! The way you came out it today was very thought provoking and wise. Thanks for that!

Missie said...

i love these Tuesday quotes because we all see it differently...thanks for sharing!

Denise J. Hughes said...

Yes, indeed, God is good all the time! It's also good to be reminded that Satan does continue to tempt us with old worn out tricks. We should always be prayerfully on guard against the enemy's schemes.

Thank you for your insightful words today.

Kathryn @ Expectant Hearts said...

Karen, thank you for sharing this. It IS as simple as God is good ALL the time, isn't it? I finally got mine up if you get a chance to head over there and check it out!

Tami said...

Thanks for the reminder that Satan is constantly trying to trap us. May God give us discernment in recognizing the lies. Thanks, Karen!