"All The Time"

Without hesitation, almost every believer can recite this phrase -

"God is good all the time, and...." (You know the rest)

But do we really believe that?

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Nothing is more befitting of being unsure than the "Kanye shrug." :)

"God is good all the time, and all the time - God is good." You knew I wouldn't leave you hanging on that one. We say it so often, I think we have it memorized in our minds but not committed to our hearts. What better time to discuss the goodness of God than when most of the country, well.. the world, is stuck at home among a panicked and pandemic state.

We often discuss how "good" God is after we have experienced the blessing we were waiting for. When we look back at our lives and realize, "Wow... I made it through that." "Look at God," right? But what does that say about our faith if it takes going through and coming out to see God. Do we look like we believe in a "good, good Father" when all hell is breaking lose around us? Most often, the answer is no.

If you are like me, you complain your way through His Grace. You miss all the things to be thankful for, while you await your personal expectation. Something I normally do, which I am not saying out of pride but of my own truth, is I question God more than ever while asking Him, "where are you?" I think of all the Bible stories I was forced to memorize as a child, and mindlessly remind God of what He did for everybody - but me.

"God, free me like you freed the Egyptians."

"Promote me like you did Joseph."

"Bring me a man like you did Ruth."

"Send me food, like you did manna from heaven" (A spiritual uber eats, maybe?)

I remind God, like He has a bad memory. When really, the person in need of proper recollection is me. Think of the things I just listed, did they come easy? Did they come in a timely manner? No. But, lucky for us, they also came with a bunch of people complaining. So, we can rest in the fact that God is used to us not being patient or compliant. Still no excuse to question Him.

And we have a lot of questions.

Questions don't necessarily mean we "don't trust" God. But the types of questions we allow ourselves to ponder reveal where an in whom our faith is really settled. Do your questions cause you to seek God or comfort? These results are often contradictions. Seeking God normally does not result in a Psalm 23 experience as a first encounter -

It's funny because this is what we want out of our relationship with God in Christ.

"I shall not want" is interpreted as "God, give me everything I ask for in prayer."

"He lets me lie down in green pastures." seems like we don't have to til the ground where green grass is expected to grow. Or we shouldn't expect the cow manure, that is often found in pastures.

"He leads me beside the still and quiet waters" paints a picture of stillness where no storm has come or gone.

But I'm lead to wonder a few things.... How do I expect to have a "refreshed" and "restored" soul, if I have not experienced anything to cause my spirit to feel "destroyed," "damaged," and "depleted"?

If I have to be "lead" to the "paths of righteousness," I should expect to have obstacles and distractions along the way. We would not have to be "lead" where guidance is not needed. But we don't want guidance, we want guarantees.

This is our thought process of how God is/should be "good" to us.

If we had it our way, we could skip the rest of Psalm 23. But there's more.

We have some walking to do. Very, very uncomfortable walking.

The valley of the shadow of death doesn't sound too fun. Nor does it sound like anything we would pray for, for ourselves or anyone we love. I wouldn't hope that journey for an enemy. But God spared us no detail of hardship. Even our blessings are accompanied with awkward moments. Although, in theory, it sounds amazing to eat bountifully in front of our enemies.

Picture the reality of this. Having things given to you in front of those who were disqualified. Those who fought against you, sitting across the table from you. Eating steak in front of someone who was given their portion of sardines. It's hard to enjoy blessings in a room filled with people who didn't want you to have it. It's an easier pill to swallow when you want to picture "those people" as non-Christians. But to be honest, this isn't normally the case.

Often, these people are not nonbelievers. They are praying to the same God.

The same people who say, "God is good all the time" are watching Him be "good" to other people. Let's circle this back. How many times has this been you? Watching someone get ahead of you in life, while you could do nothing but wait, and pray, and complain.

Believing God is good "all the time" means we have to expect His goodness, especially in the days where it doesn't "feel" good.

Remember your "feelings" and your "faith" are not friends. And the devil depends on you to mistake this reality at every crossroad of your life. If it doesn't feel good then it can't be God.

Tauren Wells has a song called, "Hills and Valleys." (I highly recommend you listen to this song on your best day and your worst. It will minister to you all the same.) In that song, Tauren sings, "Father you give and takeaway. Every joy and every pain. Through it all you will remain. Over it all." Sovereign.

Job (Job 1:21) is the one who told those around him "the Lord gives and He takes away." If you know the story of Job, you'd understand the level of faith it takes to watch everything you love, cherish, and worked hard for die. To have your friends tell you to give up. To truly have "nothing left to lose," yet understand the one thing you need is not tangible to be taken. Only surrendered.

To say, "God is good" is also to say and believe "He is all-powerful enough to turn a situation around." Seeing that it may, in actuality, not be good - right now. But believing, activating your faith, when nothing looks good, nothing feels good, but in everything there is still God. It's more than a mindless, religious, cliche. It's more than sounding like you believe.

Do you?

For the Egyptians to be "freed" they had to leave where they were comfortable; in slavery they were provided for. They left provision for a 40 year journey through the desert.

When Joseph became king, he was first betrayed by his own brothers.

Ruth found a man after she gave up what she knew to follow God in fellowship.

We pray for replication of the biblical outcomes of others, without the desire for the journey that lead to those blessings.

We want good to be God without doing our part. Without submission. Without obedience. Without patience. Without the faith.

Are you, can we, really walk through the valley of the shadow of death and in the middle of that passage SPEAK LIFE into our situations? You can fool your friends and yourselves all day. We can fake the funk of faith. But how we respond an speak in calamity is the fruition of our faith in Christ. I don't say this to scare you, or to judge you. But to remind you.

Because - remember, God is not the one with the bad memory.