Taste and See that He is Good

Since all the unresolved emotions in my last post, God has proven Himself faithful once again.

I mean, He is just too good to me.  Praise God that He remembers that I am but dust and yet He loves me - temper tantrums and all. 

And after all this struggling with Him about what life really is and who He even is anyway?, I have come to one conclusion (that I have already discovered before and will no doubt have to rediscover again soon enough). 

And it is this: God is good.  

Yep, there you have it folks.  That's it.

But I honestly believe that this is the question that everyone must answer at sometime or another: Is God really good, and does He really love me?

It is, after all the same question that the serpent put to Eve at the beginning of time as we know it.  He didn't go into some theological debate with her about God or use any mind-blowing debate tactics to catch her off guard. He simply asked, "Did God really say that? And did you really believe Him? Because, I'm telling you sister, you got the Big Guy Upstairs all wronnnggg... He doesn't have your best interests in mind; in fact it is just the opposite.  All He really wants to keep you from having what is truly good. 

Because He. is. not. good."

Now granted these were not the serpent's exact words, but this was his underlying message.  That God was not good. And His ways were not best.  And just go ahead and taste and see for yourself that the Lord is not good!

And here we are, far removed from the life-fruit of Eden, and this is still the main tactic that our enemy is using against us.  He is making us question the goodness of our God. 

And the absolutely ridiculous thing about this is that he is using his own evil and the evil of sin in the world as his proof!  Evil and sin and death ravage and destroy and kill all that is good in the world, and Satan says "Aha! You see! God did this to you! Or at the very least, He let this happen to you, and therefore He is not good. Because if He really was good, He would never stand for this.  He would swoop down and save you from this mess of life that you're in.  But He doesn't.  So He isn't good. And He most certainly doesn't love you! At the very least He hates you because He putting you through this absolute Hell!"

And these are all real questions and real doubts that we are asking and being asked.  And you will have to reconcile all of them with God yourself.  I can't answer them for you.

But if my story will help you:  I straight up told God what I thought of Him and asked Him to show me the truth.  And He did.  I don't know how or when or where, but He did.  His still, small voice must have just whispered it quietly until I believed again, and my soul has found rest and hope at last. 

He is good.  Life is not, but He still is. 

And I honestly believe that we will never fully understand how these two paradoxes can possibly be true until we are finally standing (or, more likely, lying flat on our faces...) before our great and mighty God and all things are made clear. 

But until then, this is the faith we are living in.  And, as someone once said, "I am remembering in the dark, what I saw in the light." 

These are not blind steps we are taking, but they are taken in faith.

But He is good my friend. He is so, so good.

And if you don't believe me, ask Him to prove it to you.  He might, and He might not.

But either way, He is still good.

And He loves you.