I recently was convicted about my disbelief in God's goodness. Don't get me wrong, I have always thought God was good. God sent his Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we could have eternal life. I would say that's a pretty good thing (please note my understatement here) ... that's an amazing thing. However, recently it has come to my attention that I'm not living my life in such a way that shows I truly believe in God's goodness. Specifically, I don't think my prayer life shows it.
In my one Bible study we are reading through the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus is urging his disciples to be persistent in prayer- no spiritual progress is made apart from God's grace. But, what he says next really hit me.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Again in Isaiah 49:15 it says:
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!"
God is SO good to us. He wants to give His children good things, He doesn't forget us, and He wants us to persistently come to Him in prayer. D.A. Carson says that,"we frame our requests in accordance with what we know of the character of the one whom we are addressing... we can enjoy the assurance that (our) father will not give (us) something which greater experience and wisdom assesses is not in (our) best interest."
Because of this truth I can continually ask God for something, trusting that if it doesn't happen, God, who has infinitely more wisdom than me, has assessed the situation and deemed it not necessary for me. And I can trust His response to my request is good because I know that He wants to give good gifts to me because I am His child.
I've realized that my prayer life is revealing that I'm not thoroughly convinced of God's goodness and the love He has for me. I think that's why my prayer life can become so dry; I tend to approach God assuming that my request won't be answered because there is some sort of trail or lesson I need to learn. And yes, at times, God show us His goodness by saying no, just like a parent needs to say "no" to their child for their own good. However, God also delights in showing us goodness by gladly saying "yes" to our requests and watching us, His children, thank Him for the blessings He undeservedly gives. I can't miss that part about God's character. Piper says it so well:
"God will not turn away from doing you good. He will keep on doing good. He doesn’t do good to His children sometimes and bad to them other times. He keeps on doing good and He never will stop doing good for ten thousand ages of ages. When things are going bad that does not mean God has stopped doing good. It means He is shifting things around to get them in place for more good, if you will go on loving Him."- John Piper
Such a simple truth, yet so profoud in its implications.
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