“The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” Romans 2:4b KJV
Have you ever found yourself questioning the goodness of God in your life?
I certainly have. It’s definitely not something that I am justifying as if I have the authority to question the Almighty God. However, if I’m being completely honest with you, I have found myself questioning this very idea. Even knowing God’s Word, the promises He has laid out before me, especially the promise of “He works all things together for good.” (Romans 8:28) Still yet, my mind, especially in hard seasons, has been rather suspicious on the validity of His goodness.
What is good?
We have a skewed definition of ‘good’ in the world we live in. We define it as a life without hardships. Easy, smooth sailing, no boats are rocking kind of life. We scroll on our phone’s and see a perfectly curated aesthetic on social media accounts. We, in turn, define that life being lived as “good.” We then lay our phones down, look around, and see our homes less than Instagram worthy. Those thoughts then lead to not so good feelings about ourselves and the life we have been given.
However, when we look at God’s word, we see a drastic difference in what “good” is. Good, from a biblical standpoint, is a life of obedience to Him. What we also need to grasp is another biblical truth. Obedience to the Lord comes with many hardships. Those hardships though, as a result of obedience are packed full of the goodness of God. It’s in that very goodness that change is made, or repentance can be found.
God’s Goodness Brings Change
Being raised in a hell, fire, and brimstone kind of church my entire life, I’ve always believed that the judgement of God brought forth repentance. While that can be true, it’s not always the case. Our obedience, emersed with the goodness of God throughout that obedient, possibly difficult journey, will allow the Holy Spirit to speak to people watching it all play out.
Take a look at Daniel, chapter 3. It’s a familiar story about three men named, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were obedient to God in the fact that they did not succumb to the ruling of King Nebuchandnezzar in bowing down to false gods. Furthermore, what we see is their obedience put them in a situation far from the standard of “good.” They were thrown into a fiery furnace.
Yet despite the situation, their obedience brought forth the goodness of God.
As the crowd looked into that fiery furnace, they (Nebuchandnezzar included) saw four men in the furnace. The goodness of God was in the middle of the three men. It was Jesus amongst them.
When the men were let out of the furnace, they walked out, unharmed, unsinged, without even the smell of fire on them. As a result of their obedience and seeing the goodness of God in their midst, Nebuchandnezzar had a change of heart. He made a new decree in which their nation must never speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
The goodness of God led to repentance.
A Life Well Lived
The sin that occurred in the garden, sealed our fate in having a life of hardships. Nevertheless, it didn’t seal our fate in having a good life. A good life is not a life well portrayed, it’s a life well lived.
A life that is lived for the Lord and in obedience to His calling in our lives. As followers of Christ, we aren’t exempt from struggles. No sister, we aren’t. What we are guaranteed is the promises God has laid out before us- we’re guaranteed the goodness of God.
The Goodness of God
Maybe you find yourself in a rough place in life right now and you cannot see the goodness of God in the midst of it. My friend, I’ve been there. What I had to do was shift my focus from the lack of goodness I failed to see and to the absolute goodness we know is true, Jesus.
Jesus is the goodness of God.
The cross is the goodness of God.
The empty tomb is the goodness of God.
Those three facts are enough in times of trouble to cling to in hopes that even though things don’t seem promising, my eternity is safe. That in the end, I have a hope that the goodness of God will work this all together for good. I will be delivered from this difficult season, unsinged, unharmed, walking out with no evidence of the fire.
That my sweet friend, will be your testimony. That is exactly how the goodness of God works through you, in you, and as a result, leads other people to repentance.
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God” 2 Timothy 1:8 NKJV
Love you friends,
Erika
