“The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.”
– Psalm 145:9 (NLT)
Have you ever had a tornado of adversity; of loss, grief, sickness, financial ruin, addiction, or any other emotional turmoil hit your life? In the midst of all you are struggling with, do you wonder if God is still good? I know I have. And sometimes not when I would have expected it. You see, I was diagnosed with breast cancer 6 years ago, and my faith was strong, and I didn’t question is God still good even though I had cancer. And thank God for times like that. God worked some amazing things in and through me in that struggle.
But a couple of years back, I found myself dealing with my teen struggling in ways I never imagined. Struggling in ways that made my Mom heart break. And there were moments in that struggle where I wondered…is God still good? I believe He is.
Years ago I met a woman at a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) conference, we talked quite a bit, shared a meal, and became Facebook friends. She lived in Missouri, and a few short months after I met her, one of the biggest, most deadly tornados ever (an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado) hit Joplin, Missouri and caused 158 deaths and did $2.8 billion in damage*. She did not live in Joplin, but in the town next door. She checked in on Facebook that she was okay, but in the chaos and aftermath, many of the people she knew who lived in Joplin were not okay. They had been deeply affected by the tornado and I’m sure it changed their lives in unimaginable ways. But here’s the thing, she wrote “God Is Still Good” on Facebook during that time. That one statement rates up there as one of the most amazing things I have ever read, much less read on Facebook!
I never had the opportunity to speak to her again, but I will never forget her and I will always remember her faith…that God is still good in the midst of all that turmoil going on.
The Bible says God knows our struggle. In Hebrews 4:15, it says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin.” Jesus has been there, and He knows. As He walked this Earth as a man who was fully man and yet fully God, he faced hardships, betrayal, grief, shame, persecution and more. The scriptures say he can empathize and I believe that matters. Think of the times that you shared a common area of hurt with a friend only to feel more understood and seen, and not alone in that hurt.
But what’s even more amazing to me than Jesus empathizing…is that He cares. 1 Peter 5:7 from the NLT states “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” I prefer the Message translation as that is how I have seen it played out in my life: “Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.”
Remember the disciples in the boat with Jesus in Mark (4:38) — when the winds are blowing and the sea is raging; do they ask Jesus to stop the wind or storm? No, they ask him why don’t you CARE that we perish? Because it matters when someone cares. It matters that God cares.
For me, the fact that God, the Creator of the Universe, who made the universe and everything in it, cares about me is mind-blowing. And…it’s perspective-changing. It is God with us (Isaiah 7:14), with us in our struggles. Not a God who is causing my struggles, or God who doesn’t care about my struggles. But He is there with me in them. And He’s God. The only one who can change the things I’m struggling with. The only one whose power is above and beyond what I can ask or think.
So the next time it feels like a tornado is hitting your life, remember that God is still good. And that He cares, understands and is with you in whatever the struggle. God with us means I don’t have to worry about how it’s all going to play out. I have the God who can see around corners and knows what challenges, or triumphs may lie ahead. So anchor yourself in that truth today! What we believe matters when going through a storm because it will determine how you weather it.
No matter what you are facing today, you don’t go through it alone. God is on your side. He knows and He cares. And you can say with assurance, that God is still good!
Scripture references:
-Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us).
-Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
-Mark 4:38
Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado
#GodIsGood #IsGodGood? #GodsLove
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