In the 10th century BC, a musician named Asaph reflected on the nature of his home in the world by reflecting on the nature of God. Where was God? He asked. Sorrow overwhelmed him when he saw that the world in which he lived was filled with wicked men who lorded their great earthly success over the impoverished and pure of heart.
By this time in history God had performed many gracious acts on behalf of Israel. He had rescued the nation from bondage in Egypt, delivered them from antagonistic Canaanite tribes and provided for them with heavenly bread and water. But despite having relied on God's faithful protection and provision during times of oppression, the Israelites in the wilderness betrayed God and rejected his loving commands. They were swayed by the wealth of the wicked and chose to walk in wickedness. Like their ancestors Adam and Eve, the Israelites followed after what was good in their own eyes.
The inherent nature of God is good. His very being defines the word. Because God is good, He must rule the world with justice. And so, God humbled the Israelites because of their pride, as He had done to the Egyptians and Canaanites before them.
In Psalm 73, Asaph sings, "Surely, God is good to those who are pure in heart." His song laments "the prosperity of the wicked." He describes the wicked with bodies that are healthy and strong, and those who drink from waters of abundance. In Psalm 73, Asaph grapples with the seeming injustice of their success. He asks the Lord: "Have I kept my heart pure in vain?"
Asaph's question is universal one. All around the world throughout history men and woman want to know why bad things happen to those who work devotedly for good. Why sorrow, for joy? In Psalm 73, we learn that Asaph walked closely with God, and yet, he was a man whose heart was "grieved" and whose spirit was "embittered." In verse 26, we learn that his body and his heart was failing.
It is clear from the psalm that Asaph did not understand why God allowed the righteous to suffer. But Asaph did not allow his sorrow and confusion to belittle his faith. Instead, He chose to be "enter the sanctuary of God."
In verse 16, Asaph writes: "When I tried to understand the injustice, it troubled me deeply, till I entered the sanctuary of God, then I understood." Like Asaph, we understand God's ways when we spend time in His presence. Asaph finishes the psalm with: "It is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds." By ascribing glory and purpose to the work of the Lord God, even when it exceeded his human understanding, Asaph demonstrates a faith that says, "Even when I do not understand, I know the Lord God is good." Perhaps the musicians recalled to mind these words penned by the prophet Isaiah two centuries before: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, declares the Lord, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."
As believers living in the 21 century we behold God's goodness through the Gospel, which is – like Asaph believed – more wondrous than human comprehension. The Gospel reflects God's goodness through the suffering and death of His son on the cross. We can find comfort in knowing that God himself suffered when we wonder why good people suffer. God's suffering led to the most wondrous revelations: because Christ died to conquer death, our lives are sanctified as holy and wholly good. We are invited into the wisdom, understanding and delight of a relationship with the Lord God – beginning on earth and continuing in heaven. To enter the sanctuary of the Lord God, we must recognise that our earthly understanding of "good" is skewed by sin.
Human beings define "good" by its antonym. They determine whether something is good by comparing it with their own fallible experiences and perspectives. In this way, human beings can often act like smaller, limited gods – placing themselves at the scale of mortal life and trying to weigh what is good by the size of their pan. Good, then, becomes motivated by mutability.
The scale of God's goodness is vaster and more wondrous than we could ever imagine. As the apostolic writer Paul scribes in Ephesians 3:20: "Now all glory to God who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." God, in His mighty power, does not accomplish what we think is good; God accomplishes what He knows is good. God's goodness is pure, lovely, loving and beyond human comprehension because – unlike human beings – God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and eternal. His goodness works for longevity, which means that it will concentrates on forever. God's goodness should directs our hearts us toward eternity in allowing us to see what is eternal on earth.
In Psalm 73, Asaph writes: "You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterwards, you will take me into glory." Asaph recognises that God's goodness comes from above. It is a goodness without end, having always existed, built into the very foundation of God Himself.
Our understanding of goodness is but only a glimpse of what we will experience in heaven. We must choose to trust God's sovereignty when we experience suffering or injustice on earth. For we know that suffering and injustice does not reflect God's nature, but instead reflect our own. Humans divulge in the "tree of good and evil" constantly. Like the Israelites, we seek to judge what is good "in our own eyes." The more that we make a conscious effort to spend time with God – in prayer and by reading His word – the more that we understand that God's definition of good is counter-cultural. This is most clearly emphasised in the Beatitudes, where Jesus blesses the poor, the sad, the meek, the insulted, the persecuted. We marvel at this list because it rivals what we experience in the world today. But like Asaph, we must believe that God knows more than us. Nothing is hidden from him; nothing in the past, present or future.
God invites us to ask for revelation when we do not understand what He is doing. Like Asaph, and Job, and many men and women in the Bible, we are safe to express our confusion and fear. But also like Asaph, and Job, we may not receive detailed insight on what God is doing. More often the answer God gives is: "My thoughts are higher, my ways higher still."
We can find comfort in these words when we know God's character to be good, and we learn God's character when we spend time in His presence. Asaph learned that he had not kept "his heart pure in vain" by "making the Sovereign Lord his refuge," and reflecting on His "deeds." We must do the same. We learn that God is good – no matter the state of our home, no matter the state of our nation, no matter the state of our heart – when we spend time with Him and reflect on what He has done for us. We begin to understand the ways in which God, in His goodness, has blessed us. To quote the musician: "Whom have I in heaven but the Lord? There is nothing on earth I desire beside Him." The more we spend time with God, the more we believe that He will give us the strength to walk with purity of heart. The more we spend time with God, the more we want nothing else.
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