God is Good.

Psalm 34 challenges us to "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Sadly there are many times in our life that are full of bitter moments and even leaning on God feels bittersweet. When our hearts are deeply broken heart after losing a loved one is one of the most difficult times to believe, "God is good." In those moments we can't taste or see the good through all our pain. Although everyone reminds us the Lord is good, it is a challenge, wrestling with the anger and pain of our loss with the reality of the goodness of God. Last night as I was in deep conversation with my son over the loss of a very dear friend, a little five year old boy. My son asked me how I could know that God was really good when He didn't prevent this young child from dying from cancer, even though we prayed believing completely he would be healed and God did not honor our prayers. It was then the words of Psalms 100:5 came to me,

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“For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting;
and his truth endureth to all  generations.”
Psalms 100:5

The Lord is good, though in this generation we may not see it all the time. His mercy is everlasting and because of the cross of Jesus, our sins were paid for and that little boy who past from this plane of existence did not die. He is alive, perfectly whole in Jesus because God's truth endures. One day our pain and agony will end, and we will clearly see God's truth fulfilled as we are united again with our loved ones forever in mercy and glory.  Then after explaining this, I reminded my son that sometimes we must look back on our life and reflect on all the good that God has done to remind ourselves.  We cannot dismiss all those good things because we feel bad right now.  Even in our current pain, God is good.