Through the Dark Times and Storms of Life the Goodness of God Shines Through –
Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! In the cover of your presence you hide them…(Psalm 31:19-20)
These are comforting words at a time when the world seems to be unraveling. We can choose to be overwhelmed with all the bad news that constantly bombards us, or we can be encouraged by the good news of God’s enduring goodness. When the psalmist David exclaimed “how abundant is your goodness” things weren’t really going well for him. In fact, he was in great distress and danger. But he realized that no matter how bad the circumstances around him, even greater was the goodness of God toward him.
I began 2012 by intentionally reflecting on the goodness of God. I have meditated on Scriptures about God’s goodness. I’ve read quotations on God’s goodness. I’ve memorized verses on God’s goodness. And I’ve even read a book about God’s goodness—Randy Alcorn’s compelling work, If God is God: Faith in the Midst of Suffering. I came across a story in that book that absolutely gripped me. Let me quote a passage from it:
Sinclair Ferguson tells the story of English missionary Allen Gardiner. In January 1852, a search party found Gardiner’s lifeless body. He and his companions had shipwrecked on Tierra del Fuego. Their provisions had run out. They starved to death. Gardiner, at one point, felt desperate for water; his pangs of thirst, he wrote, were “almost intolerable”. Far from home, he died alone, isolated, weakened, and physically broken. Despite the wretched conditions of his death, Gardiner wrote out Scripture passages, including Psalm 34:10—“the young lions do lack, and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing”. Near death, his handwriting feeble, Gardiner managed to write out one final entry into his journal: “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.”
In the stresses of life, in the midst of struggle and pain, in brokenness and need, what is most important to remember? I believe it is this: God is good. No matter what is going on, no matter what has happened or is about to happen, God is good and his personal presence is a certainty. Jesus our Lord promised, “I am with you always. I will never leave you nor forsake you.” In every stage and every state of life, he is there; and the reassuring reality of his presence is especially keen in times of personal crisis.
I cannot write about this without sharing a word about my own experience in sensing God’s presence and being overwhelmed with his goodness. In the weeks immediately following a devastating automobile accident in September 2009, I lay in St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto in a dreadful condition—intubated, clamped with plates, fastened with metal fixators, rods and screws that held together my numerous fractures. For the first week, I was on oxygen, unable to feed myself, more helpless than I have ever been. Yet in the midst of those complicated circumstances I had total clarity about my Lord and I found myself thinking and saying repeatedly, “God is so good.”
When visitors would stand by my hospital bed and gingerly inquire how I was doing, I found myself thinking and saying “God is so good.” I got more than one curious expression in response, but that was the overarching thought. His presence was so real that it literally enabled me to be buffered from the terrible burden of physical brokenness. His comforting reality transcended the pain and discomfort and enveloped me with the most unusual sense of peace and joy.
As you contemplate your circumstances today and as you consider all that this year holds in store, take heart in the goodness of God. Take courage from the assurance that he is with you and that he will never leave you nor forsake you. He is close enough to hear when you whisper his name. He is so great! He is so good!
-Denys Blackmore