"Listen, you heavens, and I will speak;
hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.
2 Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.
3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he." Deuteronomy 32:1-4
When I read these verses in Deuteronomy, it gives me a glimpse into how well Moses knew God, and how Moses really was a precious man in God's eyes. Moses is saying these things at the end of his life- he lived 120 years, and I can't help but notice that He specifically says that God is a faithful God and does no wrong.
This wouldn't seem significant, except it makes me think of all the different things Moses was witness to when the Israelites were traveling in the desert. How many times did God punish various people for various things? Quite a bit. And Moses saw all these things. In fact, more than once, God told Moses that He was just going to wipe away the Israelites and start over with Moses, and Moses intervened on behalf of the people. Moses experienced all these things, and here at the end of his life he says that God does no wrong and is upright and just. Because God is.
Fast forward in the Bible to Job. So, so many people point to the book of Job as an example of how God allows suffering to come into people's lives. Hey, if that makes someone feel better about the trials they are going through, great, but that's not what I take away from the book of Job. What I take away from the book of Job is this man who is at the bottom of the pit of despair,and no matter what he goes through, he still believes and trusts in the goodness of God. He refuses to blame God for all the wrongs that have happened to him.
“As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,
3 as long as I have life within me,
the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not say anything wicked,
and my tongue will not utter lies." Job 27:2-4
Job refused to blame God for all that came upon him, even when his wife and closest friends are telling him otherwise. Both these men believe with all their heart in the Goodness of God.
Because God is good! He's a good, and loving God all the time. Sometimes, maybe there needs to be a punishment, but that doesn't change the fact that God is good and loving. A father can discipline a child, and we don't say "gee, that man must not love his child anymore." Because we know that father still loves his child, but that child disobeyed and needed to be punished.
God is a good God all the time, and those are the things that I think on when my mind or heart try to dwell on something negative. Do you know, back at the end of August, Andy was told that the first week of October would be his last week of work for the year. Well, he is still working, and working hard. Now he's been told he'll have work until Thanksgiving. I believe that if God can give Andy work through Thanksgiving, He can also provide work through the month of December. That's the goodness of God that Andy still has work! I also believe though, that if Andy wasn't still working at his regular job, God's goodness would still be strong and right, because there would be something else that Andy needed to do. God is good all the time, and when we go through different situations in life, I have to look at the examples of these great men in the Bible and see that God truly is good All. The. Time.
No matter what comes at us, and no matter how things may look on the outside, for everything there is a season, and the goodness of God allows us another day to try and make things right. The goodness of God wakes us each morning and gives us another blessed day to enjoy our family and friends. And so today I swell upon His goodness. Election day is finally here, and it is by God's goodness that I live in a country where I can go vote and let my voice be heard. And it is God's goodness that is going to put the right people into office, and it is God's goodness that is going to go before us as our country begins to remember that it truly is In God We Trust.
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