As the Stoplight Turns

Late for an appointment, you punch the gas pedal a bit harder to try to get there. “Please help me get there quickly”, you pray under your breath. You approach an intersection and realize with glee that the light will turn green as your arrive. “Thank you, God,” you whisper as you continue on your way, “God is good.”

In this statement you express two foundational concepts;
#1 (Implied:) God is in control -thus, you thank Him for the positive event. (He caused it!)
#2 (Stated:) God is good – This is your value determination, not only of the event but of the God who caused it.

Let’s give an alternate ending, rending the stoplight yellow then red as you approach the intersection. Same urgent appointment, same need to get there with no obstruction, same prayer.
The ending, however, is very different, and so I ask…

#1 Is God still in control?
#2 Is God still good?

#1 - If He’s in control, why did not all factors go in favor of the specific, desired outcome? (One that would not only make things easier for you, but would benefit others in a number of ways?) Either he’s not completely in control or…

#2 Is he not good? If He is good, then why the obvious denial of the desired (and even prayed-for) outcome?

Now, a stoplight can hold up a car for a brief period, rending one late to an appointment. Not really a big deal; not much to get worked up over. And so we smile at the conundrum. “Of course”, we say, “he is in control and He is still good. It’s just He didn’t have things go my way.”

But the same reasoning is greatly more significant when the stakes are higher.
The loss of a needed job. The betrayal of a marriage trust. The devastation of one’s financial future. The death of a loved one.

Is God in control? Is He still good?

Do we understood and believe that God is in complete control and demonstrating his perfect goodness in all situations, both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ (as we’d judge them)?
(And I am not suggesting all circumstances are ‘good’; instead, that God is able to make good come from even the most heinous of circumstances.)

And I would suggest the complete package (of #1 & #2) has to be embraced together.

Indeed, God is in full control of all things (the green light and the red one) and is perfectly and equally good in either.
We may not see why God would control the red light with all its negative results. We may not understand nor fathom how the ‘red light’ could be good.
But the problem is not with the circumstance, but with our understanding.
God is ALWAYS in control.
God is ALWAYS good.

Practically, this impacts so much more than traffic signals. (Which I hope you didn’t need me to explain to you…)
The BIG things:
o The cancer diagnosis
o The paralyzing accident
o The heart crushing infidelity
o The sinister betrayal
o The infertility diagnosis
o The unanswered prayer for a mate

The ‘little’ things:
o My child’s learning struggle
o My aging body
o My church’s choice of music
o My teen’s choice of friends
o My job’s downsize
o My demanding in-laws
o My family’s schooling options

In each of these, God could’ve answered your heart’s desire in giving what you think best. (He is in complete control.)
Instead, he chose (to allow or cause) the situation as it is.
Because….
He is good, and in the circumstance He has chosen, He is able to bring goodness and His glory from & in it.

Go ahead. Test this in your own heart & mind.
Put your current trial/suffering/frustration/discouragement in the following sentence.

God is in complete control of ____________________ and will work out his goodness in it.

Do you believe this?

Or do you struggle in “I know better, why aren’t you giving me my way?” folly?

Determine to place your trust in His complete control.
Believing this exact circumstance is a result of His perfect goodness.

And if you have any doubts, go take a look at Joseph’s life and listen in on his final determination in Genesis 50:20. (He’s talking to his brothers about their evil acts against him….)

Here’s the ETP translation: “One may intend (or perceive) the red traffic light for my travail and peril, but God meant it for a good far greater than I might even imagine.” (What good? A million possibilities. Many of which as impossible to predict at that moment as it would have been for Joseph to imagine one day saving his family–and a whole nation—from famine when he [as a young man] was being thrown into a pit by his brothers.)

God is in perfect control.
And in this sovereign determination of all things He is able to bring good.

If that doesn’t give one hope, what can?!

Stay tuned for continued conversation…how do we often demonstrate our lack of belief in God’s control or his goodness?
(I think it shows up in ways that may surprise us.)