God Is Good. . .Or Is He?
Sometimes, you and I are tempted to believe lies about God’s character. We doubt. We pout. Even anger, fear, and depression can stalk us. When this happens, we women of God must fight temptation to think God is anyone other than who he says he is. You discover who he says he is in the Bible, where he reveals his character clearly and beautifully.
His name is a window into his true character and dispels the lies. “Those who know your name put their trust in you,” the psalmist David wrote (Psalm 9:10).
Have you ever doubted God’s goodness? That perhaps he forgot you — and could care less? Or that he sent calamity your way — and got some kind of sick kick from your pain?
Do you know God calls himself “Jealous?” In Hebrew, El qana means he wants you all to himself in a very good way. He doesn’t want to running after desires motivated by faulty thinking. He know that what’s best for you and me — and glorifying to him — is our absolute, exclusive loyalty. He hates spiritual adultery.
Yet I admit to my doubt, this question of God’s goodness, that dogged me for years. Click & Tweet! And I’m thankful he straightened me out.
Doubt Hit Hard
After becoming a believer at age 23. I thought I knew how to successfully apply the truth to my life. I read the Bible nearly every day. I hungered to know more and more and more of him. To pray. To hear his voice, so gentle.
And
then
my world flipped upside down.
In my early 30s, I unearthed a bad memory of abuse I had pushed down since childhood. It surfaced and I was undone.
God didn’t seem so good to me that year or the year after or the year after that. Did he change? Of course, not. God is changeless.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” Hebrews 13:8, ESV
Did I change? You bet. First, I became a self-asborbed shrew stuck in my “poor me” and my “not-enoughedness.” Lies, lies. My poor husband. He got the brunt of my simmering anger that bubbled over.
My problem: I forgot the gospel. Click & Tweet!Oh so slowly, as I turned to Jesus and listened for God’s voice, I heard him and remembered. I recalled the truth that, yes, the gospel is the once-for-all proclamation that “there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). And it speaks truth to believers every day. I forgot that my identity as a beloved child of the most high God is a sure thing. It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with God!
God’s Word Is Trustworthy
My barometer for knowing God’s truth? The Bible. It was tough, beyond tough, to hold up the lies to the truth. Have you ever compared the lies you believe to the truth of scripture? When I bring my counselees through a specific journaling assignment, they usually get excited. Stephanie could find who she is in Christ and who God says he is in nearly every scripture? Even the shortest verse in the Bible — “He wept.” — reveals much truth. I bet you could journal three pages on these two words. Stephanie could.
When I finally realized Satan had deceived me, I fought for my life. Have you fought for yours? Have you become overwhelmed and don’t know where to start?”
When I felt overwhelmed, I dug into John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I come to give you life, life to the full.” This is Jesus speaking of Satan’s bent on death and the Lord’s abundant life promise. During those dark years, as I battled a spiritual enemy in God’s strength, Jesus revived me.
God Is Love
Know that God is love and he wants the very best for you. First Peter 2:9 reads, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Beautiful words, true words, fighting words, comforting words. Click & Tweet!You are chosen. God chose you before the creation of the world, and now as the hard infiltrates your life like mosquitoes at dusk, he has selected you to rest and to fight in his strenth, not yours. His victory, not your. Christ did it all.
An Assignment
1. Which lie have you battled? Think about it. Ask God. Jot it down
2. What truth in the Bible shows the lie for what it is? Flip through the pages. Look in the concordance at the back. Google it.
3. Now decide to remember the truth each time you are tempted to believe the lie.
Tell me how it goes or if you need help or encouragement.
