I Believe God is Good

I'm not one of those Polly Anna a-holes who believes "everything happens for a reason." People like to say, God is letting this happen for a reason. If you believe that, please keep it to yourself. In the state I'm in right now, I might just punch you in the face.

People say, "Everything happens for a reason," in a feeble attempt to ascribe to God the crap that happens to them in their lives so they can feel better about getting crapped on by life. I don't really want to be the disciple of a God who gives little kids hemophilia and nearly causes them to bleed to death.

No. Sometimes, shit just happens.

So what do I believe about the goodness of God?

I believe that God knows everything, and since he knows everything, he is able to put things into place that make us able to get through anything, "without men's every discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done" (Ecclesiastes 3:11b).

For example, the night we had to rush Nathaniel to the hospital, Lesley was completely exhausted, but "something" inside of her kept nudging her to keep her from falling asleep.

For example, Lesley and I found out that the team leader of the transport team (who was the first to recognize that Nathaniel needed blood) was the most experienced, most qualified, and most respected member of the entire transport staff.

For example, years ago, Lesley was taken by her family to a general practictioner, who eventually became our children's doctor. He will be Nathaniel's primary care doctor, too. This family doctor, our family doctor, has hemophilia.

For example, God has surrounded me and Lesley with family, friends, coworkers, club brothers, and a host of other people who offer so much support and kindness to us.

God didn't want Nathaniel to get hemophilia. God didn't want Nathaniel to bleed almost to death literally. God didn't want Nathaniel to get pneumonia. If you have to ascribe a reason for Nathaniel's illness, then the reason is original sin. All of these are the result of that original sin that separates all humanity from God. If we were in perfect union with God, Nathaniel would not be sick.

Nathaniel's illness is a result of the original sin. All of the good things we have experienced since finding out about Nathaniel's illness are gifts from God to help us through Nathaniel's illness. God was at work, even years ago when Lesley was still a child, putting things in place that will help see us through this. That's the goodness of God.

God cannot take away the cross. Suffering in this life is the result of original sin. So what He did instead was even more wonderful. He made the cross, suffering, our doorway to unity with Him, where there will be no more suffering. And he puts those people in place, the women of Jerusalem who comfort us, the Simon of Cyrene's who help us carry the burdens, and the Roman centurion's and the good thieves who tell us that they believe in us, to help us through the cross to the resurrection that awaits us on the other side.

It's Good Friday right now. It's hard. It's very hard.

I'm comforted by two things:

I am not alone. God is there, and so are those whom He has placed.

And I know Easter Sunday is coming.