We love to talk about giants being defeated, don’t we? I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard so many sermons on David and Goliath with its numerous allegories, symbols and prophetic significance that it can make my head spin! Well, this blog post is not about that story, but it is about a misconception concerning God and myself that had the proverbial rock of revelation hit it right between the eyes and drop it stone cold dead.
Right at this moment I am looking back over a journal I kept a few years ago as I began to rid my mind of some wrong ideas I had about God and His relationship with me. Toxic thinking was what I called it at the time.
I won’t go into detail what each toxic thought was, but I discovered one underlying theme: I didn’t really believe God was good, at least not the Father. Jesus was good. The Holy Spirit was good, but in my mind the Father, Almighty God seated on His throne, was angry and needed to be appeased. I had been taught most of my life that Jesus stood between me and the Father and took a beating from his Father on behalf of me (perhaps I’ll discuss this concept at another time). I had no problem believing that, because I had a very angry father as a child.
Needless to say, this concept of God seemed confusing to me when I would try to understand the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Godhead three-in-one. I simply couldn’t wrap my head around it. I believed they were one because the bible said so and if the bible said so it was true. I had been taught that while Jesus was hanging on the cross, the Father had to turn His face away from His Son because He couldn’t look upon sin. He had to separate Himself from His own Son. (I guess the eternal Godhead was broken up!). This whole dogma was drawn from a scripture in Psalm 22:1, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was actually quoting David and expressing a human emotion of feeling forsaken. The entire chapter is a prophetic picture of the crucifixion. Psalm 22:24 declares, “For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; but when He cried to Him, He heard.” This theme is carried over into the next Psalm, the all familiar 23rd Psalm: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
He never forsook His son. How could He? Father, Son and Spirit are one. Besides that, He is good! Would a good Father ever abandon his son? Would you or I ever abandon one of our own children? I would hope not. Are we better than God? Could the love we have for our own kids ever come close to His love for His own? Never!
I remember many years ago hearing a preacher say “God is good” and then several members of the congregation would say “All the time!” Now, it has become a common saying. When you consider that good isn’t just something God does, but it is who He is, then even having to say “all the time” seems rather redundant, doesn’t it. It would be like me saying “I am Kevin” and you responding with “all the time!”
“God is good” is becoming my default setting even when I see or experience things that scream mockingly in my face “see, how can you say He’s good?” How can I say He is good? Because He never leaves me. This is another great revelation that has completely changed the way I see things now. He is always with me. I can now look back on every traumatic event or foolish decision in my entire life and see that He was with me. He never left me. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.” (Psalm 139:7-8) I dare you to meditate on that one for a few weeks and see if your outlook on life doesn’t change!
As His kingdom expands on this earth, I am seeing more and more of His goodness on display every day. Never in the history of mankind since the fall, has there been more goodness in the world as there is now. My Father is good.
It is so critical that we take note of toxic thoughts that influence the way we see the world. For me, I had to stop watching cable news and stop listening to talk radio. It has been almost two years since I made that decision and I haven’t regretted it. I’m beginning to see that there is so much more goodness around me than I ever believed there was. I’m even starting to love the very people they told me I should hate! After all, God is Love, right? He is also good.
I encourage you to let “God is good” become more than just another cliché that you throw out there every time something works in your favor. Let it be the thought at the forefront of your mind so that everything you hear, see, and experience is filtered through that thought.
He is good!