Is God good?
I must confess that I used to have a niggling doubt in the back of my mind that maybe, just maybe, God isn't good/wasn't always good/didn't have my best interests at heart. I'm sure that even though I chose to believe that God IS good because the Bible says so, this unexpressed doubt has led me down paths where I gave in to temptations to try out things that God said wouldn't be good for me or took actions based on wrong motivations.
I know I'm in good company: I recall Livingston once said he heard missionaries to Africa share about how many people were going to hell without hearing the gospel. He felt compelled to go. When there, God confronted Him about his suspicions, pointing out that he suspected that God was unjust, sending people to hell without ensuring they heard the gospel. God showed him in clear ways that "no man is without excuse." Livingston repented and brought the gospel to Africa because God called him to do so, not because of his previous motivations.
For me, I think the doubt first came when I read the story of Genesis the first time.
Like Eve, we come with a niggling doubt already sprouted in us: Is God truly good? Does He have our best interests at heart or is He withholding from us?
I have encountered numerous Christians and non-Christians (particularly former Christians) who have asked this question over and over in many different forms.
The addict or former addict asks "Why didn't God stop my abusive parent from hurting me, creating the wound that demanded I feed it drugs? Why didn't He prevent this from happening to me? Why didn't He stop me from taking my first hit?"
The former Christian who was hurt by the church asks "Why did He let the church hurt me? Why didn't He do something to right the wrong done to me?"
The non-Christian asks "Why do good things happen to bad people?"
The gnostic asks "Why should I care?"
The atheist asks "Why should I believe in the God of the Bible when I see the world around me in turmoil and destruction, and He's supposed to be good?"
The former Christian turns away from serving God because He doesn't get this question answered when He tried to reconcile what he reads in the Bible with what He thinks it should say because what he thinks it should say is more loving or kind or inclusive.
Some people may try to answer these questions with the whole Free-Will Doctrine—and it certainly answers many related questions. However, it fails to answer the underlying HEART QUESTION: Is God good?
Last year, I began to study the Old Testament verse by verse, often taking weeks on a single verse. As I studied the story of Genesis, I faced my questions: Was God just in kicking them out of the garden for eating a fruit? Didn't He KNOW they were going to fail? We know God knows everything, so if He knew they were going to fail, did He set them up to fail? Did He and Jesus have some kind of bet on how long this was going to take? (I'm kidding.) Would I characterize this as "good"? (And yes, I know, it's ridiculous to think that I have any authority to question the God of the Universe, but I'm being authentic here. One thing I learned early on with God: He can handle my questions. It doesn't offend Him.)
I begin to realize that the reading of this story—at least in my lifetime—has actually fortified the very doubt it’s meant to warn us against! Eve doubted God was good to her and wondered if He was holding "god-hood" out on her! Lucifer didn't need to plant a seed, he merely spoke what she already felt.
As I pressed on, I began to see the story of Adam and Eve demonstrates that not only is God all-knowing (yes, He knew they’d fall—still, they deserved the right to choose), but also that He demonstrates His goodness by:
Pursuing Adam. He nurtured and desired a relationship with Adam, then pursued him while Adam hid, calling out to him not because He didn’t know where Adam was but so Adam would know how separated he now was. To me, the image of God walking alone in the garden where they previously walked together may be the most heart-breaking image in the whole of the Bible.
Setting us up. Not, as I mentioned above, setting us up to fail, but to reach out to Him—so He can rescue us.
The glorious revelation of Adam and Eve’s story is that He wins us either way we choose.
If we respond correctly to temptation and cry out “Oh God save me!” then He comes. He saves us. If we respond incorrectly—as Adam and Eve did—and fall, the sin grows, spreads, and requires more than we were willing to give. When we’ve had enough of the devastation our choice brings, we cry out “Oh God save me!” Then He comes. He saves us. Just as He saved them when He promised—and provided—the Savior.
This is what win-win actually means: Not you win a little and God wins a little in some weird compromise, but an all-knowing, loving God sets us up so that either way, He wins. No matter what we choose in any moment of temptation or doubt—He is THE GOD WHO Wins…Us. That is goodness in action.
Grace sees it all and sets it up so that no matter how we fail or fall, He wins our hearts.