“The Works Of God Are All Of Them Good”

“Listen, my faithful children….. send up the sweet odor of your hymn of praise; bless the Lord for all he has done! Proclaim the greatness of his name, loudly sing his praises, with music on the harp and all stringed instruments; sing out with joy as you proclaim: The works of God are all of them good.”(Sir. 39:13-16)

At times it seems I judge the goodness and greatness of the Lord by what he has done for me lately? Dave,let’s review God’s report card….”hmmmm, I’m pretty healthy, I’ll give God an A….. hey, my job is going pretty well, how about an A- ….. the kids are having a tough time, maybe a C- …. The country is not doing well, probably a D. …. Gee an overall B.” Many of us have been praying very hard for a friend with cancer and he doesn’t seem to be getting better. Lord, please help this good man, please heal him Lord… he’s got a beautiful wife and young kids…. you must help him… you must heal him…. Lord, please help him. And that’s not my only prayer that seems to be “stuck in the mud”. 

Questioning Almighty God and rating his recent performance is really a poor approach .…for many reasons. First of all, He is God and his ways are not my ways; secondly, I too often don’t notice his ongoing good in my life; I often don’t recall the Lord’s constant care for me and for those I love…. too often I don’t recognize  his mercy and kindness, his answers as I call out in my distress, etc., etc., etc.  

There’s really only one approach that makes any sense for us. ”God is good and he loves us; “the works of God are all of them good.” God Knows ! He is God ! “Let us trust in the Lord, do good and he will give us the desires of our heart.” (Ps. 37)

So how should we act? First of all, throw away the “report card mentality”. Let us place our trust in the Lord knowing that he is taking care of us. He’s numbered the very hairs on our head. The very thing we struggle with may often be the way the Lord is taking care of us. “I pray for healing for my friend and he’s not getting healed.” What should I think ….”well, I guess I have no faith, I guess he doesn’t love my friend, maybe God doesn’t have the power, bla,bla,bla.” NO,NO,NO !!! The works of God are all of them good!

Ultimately we need to imitate our Lord Jesus who from the cross, cried out with his final breath, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46) As Jesus trusted the Father, the seeming tragedy of the cross became the glorious resurrection… the magnificent redemption of mankind… the conquering of death and sin, and the devil. So for you and for me, for all those we pray for, we must trust in the Lord.  God knows !  One day we will see how his perfect love brought the perfect answer for us in our time of need. 

In the meantime, let’s sing of the goodness of God.