920 The Absolute Truth

There are two steadfast, unchanging, forever true statements that apply to every single day of your life. If you get these truths down deep in your soul and operate from them, you will struggle less and find joy more. Ready? God is always good and the devil is always a liar. Always. Without fail. God’s goodness surrounds you and the devil’s lies bombard you. God’s goodness goes before you and the devil’s lies chase you. And here’s the thing … neither of those will ever stop. God is good. It’s who he is and how he operates. There is no bad in him. There are no lengths to which he will not go to prove his goodness to you. He’s already given the ultimate sacrifice in his son for your rescue. That’s how good he is. I like to think of myself as a good person, but sorry ’boutcha, I’m not giving one of my kids to save your butt. That plain ol’ ain’t happening! But that kind of love has been proven for you. God declared nothing would stand in the way of the goodness he has planned for you, so he cleared every barrier you could ever create. There’s no sin you can’t come back from, no bad path you can’t turn around on, no wrong that hasn’t already been made right. Nothing can stop his goodness from getting through to you. Again and again, God wakes you up with the offering of a life you don’t deserve. You may think your good deeds have earned you the right to a good life. But look around sister, my guess is you won’t have to look far to find someone who has given more in their life and never wavered from their faith, yet their circumstances are worse than yours. We are entitled to absolutely nothing. None of us get what we deserve, thank God. Everything we have is a gracious blessing from God above. Everything that didn’t go disastrously wrong is a direct result of your good God who saves you again and again. God is always good. Where that truth gets twisted is when bad things happen. How could a good God allow this to happen? If he has the power to change it or stop it, why doesn’t he? Is he withholding his goodness? I’ve struggled with that question. I would love to tell you I have the answer that will help you never question his goodness again. I don’t. Faith is required here. We live in a fallen world where we’re all running around with free will. We’re not holy robots operating from a divine motherboard that always does the right thing. We’re human, and humans royally jack things up. We’re like sheep who continually wander off into ditches and ruts and get stuck in the same thing we were just saved from. That’s why God sent us the Good Shepherd. Jesus rescues us time and time again. Every day he brings us back in. Every day he redirects our wandering steps. Every day he cares for us as we snuggle up close one minute, then go running wild the next. Psalm 106:1 “Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His faithful love endures forever.” God’s goodness never stops. He never stops pursuing you. Never stops rearranging things for you. Never stops making things new again after we screw them up. He is always good. He is always taking what is bad and working it together to make it good. Today’s circumstances may not be good. People may have made the wrong choices and now they effect you. You may have been hurt, used, abandoned, discounted, run-over, over looked, talked about, left out, singled out, pushed out, and counted out, but in the mighty and capable hands of God, every single bit of that can be worked together for good. In your hands, maybe not so much. That’s why you have to turn it over. Let it go. Hand it over to the God of goodness and let him work with it. What he can do with your broken pieces is greater than you could have ever done with the who...