God is so good!

Let me start by saying "God is so good!". Now I know that we say that often, and indeed it is true. However the Lord has been dealing with my heart lately about--do I really see Him as a good God in the bad times as well as the good? Now I can certainly SAY that I do, but do I really mean it? It's like that song 'The God on the Mountain': "We talk of faith when we're up on the mountain, but the talk comes so easy when life's at it's best. But then things change, and we're down in the valley..."  He is an unchanging God (Hebrews 13:8), so therefore He is everything He is ALL of the time. Things have been really wonderful for me lately, and I am thankful to God for that. I am aware that there will be times of testing, as there have been all through my Christian life. When those times come will God still be good? The answer is YES!!

Look at Psalm 46:5 "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early." This city was facing an enemy from without (as we are today), but God was WITH her. She could still say "God is good" even in this bad time for He was always with her. Here is a hard thing to understand, but totally true: God is good to us when He gives us trials. That may sound crazy, but in reality it IS true. If all we had in life were good times, we could not fully appreciate what the Lord does for us. That He is with us always, that He bears our burdens, or to know the blessedness of leaning on Him in prayer during a time of trouble. The things are good things too, the same as when he blesses us with a new job or house, or when He gives us someone special to love, or when He gives us great victory in our lives. The simple truth is that God is good ALL the time, and we just need to realize it ALL the time.

Look at Job. He had it all, and he could truly say "Wow! God is so good!", but it wasn't until God allowed all the blessings to be removed that Job could say "I have heard thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee."-Job 42:5. He could then say that he had not only heard of God's ever-abiding presence, but that he had experienced it for himself. After facing the trial Job could see that God was still God (Job 19:35), and that He was alive and there with Job even in the trials. This is something my soul longs for. Of course the mountaintop experiences are so wonderful and dear to me (probably because they are so rare), but it's those valley experiences that I remember more for those are the times when God seems nearest.

The Hebrew children in the furnace of fire. God could've kept them from ever being put into the furnace. Instead He allowed them to be thrown into the furnace to show Himself and ever present God. You'd better believe those Hebrew children could say after that day "Our God...He is a very present help in time of trouble!'. This testimony completely changed the way the King and others looked at their God. Having a testimony of a God who is always with you impacts others greatly.

Oh, that God would use the mountain and the valley experiences to bring us all closer to Him. To refine us. To help us encourage others in the way. God is so good!

More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee.
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Let sorrow do its work, come grief or pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!