Just When Is God Good?

God is good. You've heard this, right? It's a common phrase spoken in the church world. I've heard it come from the mouths of many people in a variety of situations.

When a tough situation has an ending that is happy, some are quick to declare that God is good! It's important to recognize God in our victories. He needs to be acknowledged in moments that could have had a much different ending. What about the other moments though? What do we think of God when things don't go our way?

In my 13 years of raising a medically complex child, I have wrestled with this concept of the goodness of God. God is good. God's nature is good because He is love. He never changes. Yet, over the years, I have let many unpleasant circumstances try to slant this truth.

It's extremely difficult to look at your child with a scarred chest after a second heart surgery and declare that God is good. When you hear your child has a rare heart arrhythmia (Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome) and has a chance of sudden death, you aren't thinking about how wonderful God is. When you find your child in respiratory distress at home causing you to rush into action with medications and oxygen, your immediate reaction is not to say that God is good, especially after this occurs dozens of times. When you are told your child may not survive the septic shock and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome as she lays in an ICU bed, God's goodness isn't at the forefront of your thoughts.

All of the scenarios are ones I have lived through as Jaycee's parent. I have had plenty of opportunities to understand the complexity that is the goodness of God. Here's is what I understand: God is good all the time. It's not a cliche; it's a fact.

God's nature is good. That part doesn't change. Even when life is challenging, God's nature remains the same. In my human reasoning, I try to make sense of God through trying times on Earth. But, how can make sense of a Heavenly God when I am trying to view Him through earthly trials? I can't. I must know who and what God is, so I can press on towards the hope of Him.

We can't decide God's nature based upon the good or bad things that happen to us. Our situations change. God doesn't. I had a tendency in the past to look for the goodness of God in Jaycee's illnesses. When things were hard for my child, I felt anger that the goodness of God wasn't around. After all, she was suffering. Goodness surely couldn't mean another surgery or illness or diagnosis or problem. Goodness is health and happy times. Right?

If there's a constant to be found in a chaotic life of raising a child who is medically complex, it is this. God is unchanging. He cares. He loves. He is good. "God is good" is not something said to sound Christian. It is a declaration of a belief of God that you must feel and know deeply and profoundly. You must settle this in your heart and your mind, so that when trials come, you won't be taken down the road of questioning God's nature, existence, and love.

When I sing the chorus of a familiar song, "You are good, good, oh," I sing it from my heart. I sing it with passion. I know God is good. I feel it because of what I have walked through on this Earth. Even when things I face seem terrible, the fact remains that God is good.

I hope you know it too!