However the one absolute truth about God that we fail to grasp with our humanistic mind, is that he is good all the time, and cannot contradict himself. He is the absolute epitome of good, all his ways are pure. Though we may question what is allowed to happen in our lives to us and we can misconstrue it for evil, often times the bad things that happen to us, or that occur are a result of our own actions or the direct bad choices of others.
God in his infinite ungraspable wisdom allows the repercussions of those things to shape us, and if we choose to trust him, he can makes something incredible out of any brokenness or hardship that we suffer. If we choose to do things our own way, we can end up in a downward spiral where things eventually get so bad we end up with nothing, flat on our faces.
These are the times where we are backed into a corner, where we see no way out that the real choice of escape becomes evident. God and God alone can rescue us from our depravity, mess and self-destruction, no matter how many times you get backed into this corner and make your way out, the cycle will never end until your life is given over to God. It is in this moment where we are given a choice as to realizing our absolute nakedness before God, and how much we need him. It is this moment, that God longs to pick you up face from the ground, heal, restore and then exhort. All because he loves you, like a good father loves his child.
It is true that "good father" falls tragically short of describing who God really is and what he desires for our life, particularly in a day and age when "good father" is nothing short of difficult to find. None the less, we have a God who is planning for our future, and wants to help. He is the ideal father. No he doesn't give us what we deserve, thank goodness for that. Instead he gives us what will help us, though it may not look like help all the time. Often in hindsight is when we see how good he is and what he was doing.
"I know the plans I have for you, " Declares the Lord. "Plans to help you not harm you, plans to give you a HOPE and a FUTURE." Jeremiah 29:11
This is to encourage those who feel entitled to more, to understand that though you may feel you deserve better, God is going to use whatever you are going through to help someone else, particularly if you can drop the entitlement and trust him.
This is to encourage those who feel hopeless, perhaps even abandoned. God did not cause this suffering, even though he may have allowed it. Trust him, and his timing to help you through and know that God does not waste pain.
This is to encourage those who never had a father who could be trusted. Our God is to be trusted, he does not lie, and he does not make a promise he cannot keep. You can trust him, even when things look bleak.
And last of all, with all of this in mind, we must remember that we are not entitled to good things because we do good things. We must also remember too that there are times we are going to screw up and God will cover us and other times he wont. This doesn't mean he is any less good, or loves us any less, it simply means that like any good father there are times we must learn from our trials, and our mistakes. These times will build character, faith and maturity as a believer and also as an adult.
Romans 5:3-6
English Standard Version (ESV)
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
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