Yes, God is good!
Things may be going wrong with you.... Blow upon blow may be descending upon you. You have been living the Christian life, reading your Bible, working for God, and yet the blows have come.... Everything seems to be going wrong.... One trouble follows hard after another.... Are you able to say in the face of it all, God is always good?' . . . Are you able to say, 'All things work together for good' without any hesitation? That is the test. But ... while the Psalmist says, 'God is always good to Israel', he is careful to add, 'Even to such as are of a clean heart'. . . . if you and I are sinning against God, then God will have to deal with us, and it is going to be painful. But even when God chastises us He is still good to us. It is because He is good to us that He chastises us.... But ... if we want to see this clearly we must be of a clean heart.... I sometimes think that the very essence of the whole Christian position, and the secret of a successful spiritual life, is just to realize two things. They are in these first two verses [of Psalm 73].... I must have complete, absolute confidence in God, and no confidence in myself. As long as you and I are in the position in which' we worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh' all is well with us. That is to be truly Christian.... If I take that view of myself, it means that I shall always be looking to God. And in that position I shall never fail. May God grant us grace to apply some of these simple principles to ourselves and, as we do so, let us remember that we have the greatest and the grandest illustration of it all in our blessed Lord Himself. I see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, the very Son of God, and I hear Him uttering these words, 'Father, if it be possible. . . .' There was perplexity.... But He humbled Himself. . . . He just committed Himself to God saying in effect, 'Thy ways are always right, Thou art always good.... Not My will, but Thine, be done'
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