God's Goodness, Journeying Together, part 2

Below is a look at the story of Job and an attempt at some theology to try and show that 'God is good to us, all the time'.

I'll also do a part 3, telling part of my own story, with a pratical suggestion as to how to handle suffering and how to pray

Basically Job is a righteous man, who then loses all his wealth, all his family (except his wife) and ends up diseased sitting on a rubbish dump. At the end of the story, a new family is given to him, he is healed, and his wealth is restored to him (all in greater measure)

Job 1:21 And he said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Traditionally said at funerals ' . .the lord giveth and the lord taketh away ' and also with us in a popular worship song by Matt Redman, 'Blessed be the Lord' - The Chorus/Bridge 'You give and take away, you give and take away . .' Don't get me wrong, I love this song, to me it is us saying we will worship God whether we are in good times or bad (worship, eg express that we believe in God's goodness/faithfullness in good times and bad). It's the confusion around, 'you give and take away', I want to address.

Strangely it has become a theology. Even more strangely we don't do this with any of our other New Testement beliefs. For example, if I suggested that instead of looking to Jesus for forgiveness we could take the option of sacrificing a spotless lamb, no one would take me seriously!

So
It's not God speaking
It's not Jesus speaking
It is not the New Testement

It is, apparantly, something called a 'Lament' (cry of anguish, expression of grief, etc)
Matt Redman wrote this song out of a family tradegy so it is likely, (though I haven't asked him!), that the chorus was also his lament.
And it is an expression of submission, then worship


Job had just been given the news that all his children were now dead and that he had no livelihood. Wouldn't we also cry out something like this? For example, 'Oh God how could you let this happen?'
And we see lot's of other laments in the Old Testement, for example, in the Psalms. David often begins a Psalm with a lament and ends proclaimimng God's goodness. For example, he might start off saying, 'Oh God why have you shut your ears to my prayers'. Again, we don't attempt to turn this into theology and teach that sometimes God doesn't listen to our prayers! We would tend to teach that it's ok to be angry with God as long as it was the start of a process - communication - submission - worship - healing - etc. And we see that Job follows this pattern and ends with 'Blessed be the name of the Lord', He refuses to curse God and instead calls the Lord blessed. Later in the story the devil takes away his health also and still Job refuses to curse God.

I know this is a difficult area and I certainly don't have the all the answers, very far from it! I'll try and give what I think I have got though. I can already hear people saying, ah, but what about the soveriegnty of God, and the 'permissive will' of God? Isn't that what Job was saying? Well yes and no. I believe this applies in the most general sense in that God gives us free will or in that he generally gave over control of the world to human kind. But that is very different to ascribing a particular act to God, ie saying that an evil thing has happened to us and it is God's fault. Of course the devil tends to be much more subtle, but it amounts to the same thing, by taking a truth and twisting it, eg getting us to quote the verse above or to say 'God's ways are higher than our ways' (and there is tremendous truth in that, but not that God would do bad to us!). How often have we we started off trying to comfort someone by saying 'maybe God allowed this to happen so that . . '? We have a wonderful God who can make some good come out of any bad situation, as Romans 8:28 tells us 'And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose'. So although God can redeem any bad circumstance it does not mean that He brought about that circumstance. Or that He 'allowed' it in a direct and particular way involving me, God and the circumstance. Or that He exercised, 'permissive will'. Besides exercising 'permissive will', is almost a contradiction in terms! Either God takes no action and allows us the freedom to act or vice versa. An analogy: say I was rich, my son reached 18 and wanted his freedom, so I agreed to buy him a flat. I tried to give him some guidelines including, 'always lock your front door'. The son hardly ever locks the door and is eventually burgled. Is that my (the father's) fault?


Good theology gives a right picture of God. Jesus gave us many pictures of the true nature of God, for example, 'what Father, if his son asked him for a piece of bread, would give him a stone?' God knowing about the sparrow falling from the tree, him clothing the fields, Him providing for us ! So Jesus is suggesting: Imagine if you are a parent or imagine a good earthly father, then think of that bad situation . .would you wish that on a child of yours ? And as Jesus suggests in this passage, God has got to be, at the very least, as good as we are ! I find this a very good way to 'pull myself up' ie arrest my thinking.

Logic also tells us that if God is really God then there can be no evil in Him, He must be perfectly good, therefore His sovereign acts must be for good not evil.

Also the Holy Spirit within you tells you or witnesses to the fact that God is good to his children - you can even try it . . is your spirit lifted in adoration and worship if you start saying God allows sickness or 'takes away' ? Compare that feeling to singing 'surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life' And it is quite vaild to allow the the Holy Spirit to witness to us, that is, have a God given feeling about the truth of something. The bible tells us the Holy Spirit assures us of our salvation, and 'leads us into all truth' John 16:13

At a simple level, if we step back and consider the story of Job, we see at the beginning the devil doing all the murder, destruction and the bringing of sickness and at the end we see God bring healing, restoration and the abundant provision of needs

Here's a more of Psalm 103, that tells us of the truth about God - be encouraged!
Psalm 103 1-5
1 Let all that I am praise the Lord ;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord ;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
5 He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle's!