But if Not, He Is Still Good

The following post was originally a guest post that I wrote for Coffee With Summer. Summer is a great blogger. If you'd like to check out her work, click here.

Growing up in a Christian home, Christian responses to hard situations were like second nature to me. "It'll be okay, just trust God", was easy to spout off to someone who was going through a rough patch. However, saying a sentence like that is much more valuable when you actually know what it means, and the implications that it carries. As a teen, as well-meaning as I was, I'm not sure I really understood the full-force of that statement, nor am I sure that I fully believed it.

Don't get me wrong- I was a Christian and I really did believe in trusting God. But I didn't understand what God being good and trust-worthy in all things really meant. I didn't know because I had never had to trust him with something huge before, and I had never had to live out my own advice in a big way.

But as I aged, there were more opportunities for trusting God and believing he was good no matter what. More times than I can count, I failed. Sometimes I got it right. But I'd like to think that every time, I learned more and more that God is good. My ways are not as good or wise as his. And I need to trust him.

So today, I want to focus on this concept more, through reading this passage from Daniel 3:16-18:

"...We do not need to defend ourselves...The God we serve is able to deliver us...But even if he does not...we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

I love this passage because I believe it shows where our hearts should be.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were about to be thrown into a furnace to burn to death. If it were me, I'd be in a state of panic and tears. I'd most likely be incapable of functioning, and begging God to get me out of the situation (cue fetal position).

But instead of panicking and begging, these men had the utmost confidence in God. They knew that if it was God's purpose, He would deliver them and save them from this mess. They trusted him to do so - but their faith didn't stop there! These men also trusted God enough to say, "even if He doesn't save us from this, we will still serve him." They knew that their God was right and holy, and if He chose to leave them in the situation, they trusted that He knew what he was doing. Their trust in Him was not conditional.

But how often is our trust in God conditional?
How often do we think things like,"God, if you don't get me out of this, you must not love me"?
How often do we push God away when pain comes into our lives?
I know I do, and I'm confident I am not the only one!

The Whole Truth

The thing is, God is always good. Always. He is perfect, so all that He does is perfect, regardless of what we think.
We can come up with countless ways that we think things would be best. We can come up with lists and hypotheticals for how we wish our lives were different, but ultimately, God knows what is best.

If God had chosen to leave Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo in the flames and let them die, He would still be holy, He would still be right, and He would still be good!

In the same way, if my countless prayers for protection for my family had not been answered, God would still be good. If my friends all abandoned me, my husband was taken away, and I lost all I had, God would still be good.

God has given us all we need in Jesus Christ and the salvation that we have through Him. He is perfect and all He does is perfect.

No Matter What

Thank God that He gives us even more than we need! I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and all my family. I am thankful for my friends, my house, my dogs, my blog, and everything that He has given. And He joys in giving us things that glorify Him and make our hearts happy simultaneously. Praise Him for that!

But if He took that all away or never blessed me again (I pray that doesn't happen), He would still be good. And I should still praise Him!

Do you believe that? How can we all trust God's goodness more fully? Comment below.