God is good, but not "nice"

"God is good, all the time.  All the time, God is good."

It usually depends on how we define "good".  Not everyone sees good the same way.  

Good these days usually means that you need to agree with me and disagree with things, points of view, or other things that I disagree with.

When my kids were small and they wanted ice cream or some other junk food all the time, they would not have thought that my wife and I were "good" for telling them "no" so that they would have a balanced diet and would have treats as treats and not as their main food source.

A lot of people want a "nice" God who doesn't contradict our wants, desires, and dreams. But if scripture and history is to be trusted, God isn't that way.  He's good in the ways he defines good, but not in the ways that we'd always like him to be.

This small variation in how we define good and nice is a giant wedge that drives a lot of people away from religion or church people, at times.  Everyone wants to be able to claim their definition is THE definition. 

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I do think God is good all the time, but probably only because I know that my definition of "good" is always going to be relative to the situation I am in --- AND that I may not be aware of a lot of things about the situation I am in that God is aware of.

Also, just because God is good, it doesn't mean that everything in my or your life are things that God decided to put there.  In my theology, there are times - most of them probably - that God allows life to run its course and he walks with us through it and uses everything, eventually, for a larger version of good.

So, is God good?  Yes, but it's usually relative to how a person understands "good". In the Old Testament, where most of the "God is good" scriptures come from, people still suffered greatly. And usually the writer would be proclaiming God's goodness as a contrast to things that weren't good in life.

Then there are people who feel it's our job as God's people to bring about "God's goodness" in this life by how we vote, who we support or don't support, etc - as if God gave us that job. That's a topic for another time - I'll just say it's up for discussion, it quickly becomes relative to what each person calls "good", and that most people I know who are the loudest about it do little more than performative actions/talk.

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Is God still good when my prayers aren't answered like I want them to be answered?

Is God still good when crazy, bad things happen that are unimaginable or unbelievable?

Is God still good when I don't get parking up close to the front of the store?

Is God still good when I eat so much of my favorite food that it makes me sick?

Is God still good when some of "his people" betray me or done me wrong, or vice versa?

Is God still good when innocent people suffer greatly in distant lands or across the street?

Is God still good when bad things happen to people that we think are good?

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There's a flavor of religion that says God IS good all the time and that if YOU will have enough faith, your pockets will overflow with his favor in the form of cash, good things in relationships, honor in the circles you run in, a long life full of blessing, etc AND vice versa, that he's gonna take it from you if you don't have enough faith and/or aren't good enough.

But that isn't the picture you get when you read through the New Testament. In those writings, people still got sick and died, experienced severe famine, were oppressed by "bad" governments and wicked people, were occasionally harassed or killed for their faith by other people "of faith", and so on.

In this new covenant kind of relationship that came into effect after Jesus sent his Spirit, life isn't about God "hooking us up" with blessings.  That is something that came into religion when preachers realized that they could get more attention and followers if they promised something God didn't promise.

And don't get me wrong - there is a LOT of power and influence when you get people together who believe that.  They end up working together to produce and make it happen through networking, confident actions, etc that they wouldn't have without the backing of their group they've made together.  

They create their own good, but project it as God's favor. And it's fine to give God thanks for things we think are good, but there are plenty of people and groups out there who that doesn't happen for because they aren't connected to the right people, places, and times. 

"God's favor" can be twisted by people who really want something. It's kind of like when a group of us went to Central America to build houses for people in poverty. We were warned about watching our stuff (bags, backpacks, etc) because some locals would see an unattended bag as a blessing from God for them.

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God IS good all the time. And I need to be aware of who I say that to so that I don't take God's name in vain by leaving the idea that God is blessing us with pop culture ideas of good all the time.  He is good, but not necessarily in the ways that people who don't know him yet would understand as good.

I work in a role where I am around people who are "the working poor" a lot of times and many of them understand that God is good as he defines good - that he is with them/us in life, but that he's not always gonna provide "nice".  They aspire for more in life, but know he's there, even when his stuff isn't.

And some of those working poor have little desire to join a church or join your religious group because there are often so many things that simply don't connect, make sense, or are not true for them outside the context of your church or religious group.

They'll come to your Trunk or Treat or other holiday party to get the free stuff - and they do like the free stuff - but they're too busy trying to survive, working two or three jobs, to join a church, give some of their money, and spend time volunteering.  If churches wanted to help...well that is a topic for another day.

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Scripture was written by people who had access to education, writing materials, and an audience who could read and appreciate what they wrote.  It's lost on us, at times, to realize that is true since most of us live in a world of abundance and communication appears to be instant and easy.

Scripture was written by people who had support, money, and community.  Not everyone had access to that kind of thing.  Long story short - it was written by people who had "free time" to process, over time, and had come to understand God's goodness after a lot of reflection and a lot of consideration.

They had seen the ups and downs of life - some extremes we can't imagine - and yet saw that God was good in spite of their blessings and losses.  God had not abandoned them, even when all their stuff went away and they were left with nothing but facing struggle until the end of their days.  And they were good with that.

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God IS good all the time, but he's not giving us all we want all the time - he never promised that.  He's not giving us things in proportion to what we give him - that's a wicked teaching taught by (hopefully well-intentioned) people who are building their own kingdom.

He's good, but he's not "nice" - he's not running around trying to make sure we're "happy" all the time and trying to salve or calm our feelings - he's not co-dependent in the least bit.

Does he do "nice" things?  Sure, I believe he lets us see reminders of his power, presence, and more on a regular basis.  We often don't have eyes to see it because we've been trained otherwise.

God is good because we have him.  He is with us always.  He is not ashamed of us, even when we jack things up royally.  

He will appear "more good" to us as we grow and change how we think about him, life, and ourselves.

Peace and goodwill.