Is God Good?
Andy Sanders // UGA Student & Worship Intern
My family used to fish with dynamite. No, really. Let me explain a little further. Back before dynamite was illegal for just anyone to buy, you used to be able to buy it in hardware stores. This was convenient for my dad, his cousins, and my great-grandfather. I can recall a particular story where they used it to fish one day. The idea is pretty simple: throw dynamite in the water, boom, and the shockwave stuns the fish, causing them to float to the top.
One day, my dad, his uncle, and my great-grandfather were in a small boat on a river. Keep in mind, rivers have a current. Current causes things to float downstream. They were just about to start their first blast of the day to bring up fish. The uncle lit the dynamite, and threw it in the water. No big deal, a typical throw-your-dynamite-in-the-water situation. Now remember, I mentioned that current. This would have been helpful for the uncle to remember on that day, but unfortunately, he did not. In fact, he quickly realized this because he had thrown the dynamite upstream of their little boat. The next 30 seconds became very interesting. Shouting, prayers, and an ear-ringing boom followed with a splash of water on their faces. Luckily, no damage was done. The dynamite missed the boat, barely. The uncle was not invited to fish with dynamite again after that day.
It’s a funny story, but I say all that as an analogy for this: sometimes in life we have questions, big questions about God. These sometimes don’t cause much effect, but there are other ones that float a little too close to the boat, and they have explosive results on our spiritual lives. It’s with questions like these that we wrestle. We must go beyond a 15 minute quiet time with God for these answers, and we search for them in Scripture, in chapters and books that have dust between the pages.
I have one of these questions I’d like to share with you. A question that I have wrestled with for a long time, and still do. Is God good? Seems simple doesn’t it? But I’ve learned that in the practice of our daily life, there’s nothing simple about it.
I’d like to take you back to Job, a book I’ve been reading lately. I use a good bit of Scripture here because I think its words have a lot more weight than mine. Many of us know the story of Job. A blameless man, upright before God. He was by today's standards, a “good guy.”
“Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. 10 You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!” “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence. Job 1:7-12 NLT
And we see that Job loses everything, even his family. Yet, Job never cursed God or sinned by being angry. Job mourns after this, understandably so. He has a few smart-mouthed friends that come and mostly offer bad advice during his mourning. In all this, Job is confused, probably frustrated, unsure of why he is suffering. Then God finally speaks, and the answer isn’t what you might expect.
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’ Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant color. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence. Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths? Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?” Job 38: 1-17 NLT
I’ll be honest, this isn’t what I expected to hear from God when I read this. The Lord goes on for another chapter or two showing His mighty power to Job. Job answers with,
“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” Job 42:1-6 NLT
When I read this, it was humbling. Yet, I still didn’t understand God’s answer. Here Job is suffering, and God tells him how little Job is and awesome He is. It didn’t make sense. But, I kept searching.
Recently I keep coming back to one verse that brings me some solace.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” Isaiah 55:8-11 NLT
This reminds me of God’s response to Job. His plans are far beyond human comprehension, so much more complex than you could ever think or dream. Lately, I came across this verse during Jesus’ encounters.
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” John 1:1-3 NLT
Jesus goes on to restore his sight. A man, born blind from birth, unable to choose his fate, is used by God to allow others to see the Lord’s power. For years this man begged, was mocked, lived in the dirt, and now God brings about sight and new life, not only to him, but to people thousands of years later that read that story and believe in the power of the gospel. Was the 20 or so years of suffering blind worth it? It would seem so, but this still didn’t answer my question. Job and the blind man are restored in the end. What about people that didn’t get to see God’s restoration in their lifetime, people who suffered and no good came of it, at least not in their lifetime? And what about suffering that doesn’t always result in a miracle, but rather a tragedy?
This brought me to a dark chapter in Israel's past. Exodus 32. It may be familiar to you. It’s the day Moses went to the mountain, and Israel stayed behind, making idols of gold images. Here Israel is after having been delivered, after receiving God’s favor and protection, and they mock the God who saved them from Egypt, choosing to credit their salvation from slavery to an idol-nothing more than a pile of rocks. What an unloyal, terrible, stubborn thing to do. But, it sounds like someone I know well, someone I see in the mirror every day. Moses comes down the mountain and sees what is taking place. What happens next is shocking.
Moses told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.” The Levites obeyed Moses’ command, and about 3,000 people died that day. Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Today you have earned a blessing.” Exodus 32: 26-29
Three thousand were killed that day and paid for their sin with their lives. They died at the hands of their own neighbors and friends they escaped Egypt with. How is it God could allow such killing? It seems that the root of all this is sin. It was sin that led to this outcome. A similar event happens in Joshua 7. Achan, a warrior of Israel, takes spoils from a conquered city after God has commanded the people not to. Achan, along with all his family and all his possessions, are stoned and burned. In both accounts, the price for sin was literal death. Unlike Job or the blind man, Achan and the unbelieving Israelites sufferings did not end with a miracle or a blessing. It seems like rebellion against God, sin itself, brought about their ends. In fact, sin is a big reason the Israelites were even allowed to conquer so many of the Canaanite cities and kings. It wasn’t because God liked the nation of Israel any better or saw them as more righteous, but simply because the foreign cities were engrossed in sin.
“After the Lord your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The Lord has given us this land because we are such good people!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way. It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The Lord your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 9:4-5 NLT
I’m beginning to see a pattern. Where there is sin, there is suffering.
And this makes sense, like the Scriptures say, “For the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23 NLT Not only did sin begin in the garden, but it spread to all. “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Rom 5:12 NLT And again in James 1:15 it says, “These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.”
But this leaves me confused. I understand sin leads to death, but what hope is there? Will we then all suffer because of sin or to bring God eventual glory like Job and the blind man? And even still, when Cain kills his brother Abel in Genesis, God says:
“You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” Genesis 4:6 NLT
But how can I be sin’s master? Surely I can’t master sin. I can try, sure, but it seems like it always gets the upper hand in life. This is when I realized, I wasn’t ever supposed to be the master over sin. I never could be. And this is where I found God’s grace. How fitting that my question of God’s character brings me back to the greatest thing about this whole story, His love.
I came across these verses in the Old Testament about God’s faithfulness to show love.
Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago. Micah 7:18-20 NLT
I found a similar verse in Nehemiah.
But in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are! “And now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love, do not let all the hardships we have suffered seem insignificant to you. Great trouble has come upon us and upon our kings and leaders and priests and prophets and ancestors—all of your people—from the days when the kings of Assyria first triumphed over us until now. Every time you punished us you were being just. We have sinned greatly, and you gave us only what we deserved.” Nehemiah 9:31-33 NLT
The verse that ties all this together for me is one about Jesus.
For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News. 2 Timothy 1:9-10 NLT
God really did care in the end. In fact, he cared so much he paid the ultimate price, death. Death on a cross, a gruesome, and horrible suffering that few people will ever know. And it’s through this that I and all who believe have life. Suffering is a part of this life just as sin is. Not all suffering comes from sin, but usually, the two go hand in hand. But the suffering that exists in life pales in comparison to what is to come, the day when suffering is removed and every burden is lifted in the presence of our Creator. We now can master over sin and suffering not because of our great power (as God showed Job), not because of our great works of righteousness (our sin made this impossible), but only because Jesus Christ, God, who suffered for our sake, has done what no human could ever do. God is good.
I know this answer isn’t complete, but it’s enough for me. I can’t fully understand an eternal God, and I don’t pretend to. If you struggle with this question like I do, search for these answers deeper on your own. Meditate on these verses. I believe God will show you the truth in the end. Everything I have written here is not for my own gain. I write these things because God has changed my life. He alone takes the glory. I leave you with this, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.” Revelations 4:11 NLT
Andy is a third year agricultural engineer major at UGA. He is a worship intern and is going to Boston with Watty this summer! He is also involved in the Woodall tribe on Sundays. Serving the Lord and connecting with the people around him are some of his biggest passions.
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