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Keeping God Good All the Time
Psalm 77:9
"Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah."
Psalm 52:1 says, "Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually." You will notice that it says that God is good all the time. However, in the verse above it seems that the psalmist forgot this verse when he said, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" In one psalm we read that God is good, and when you find the same person who said God was good almost questioning the goodness of God. It can almost seem as if God's goodness is fickle. Yet, when you read the remainder of the psalm you see that the psalmist took three steps to get himself out of the funk of questioning the goodness of God.
Face it, there are times when you boldly say that God is good all the time, and then there are times when you struggle with saying and believing God's goodness. When times are going well, it is easy to proclaim God's goodness, but when times are unsettled, it is certainly difficult to see God's goodness through the hardships. However, you cannot allow yourself to stay in the doldrums of self pity, and you must get yourself back on top side if you are going to continue to help people and be positive about life. There are three steps you can take to help you get through those tough times when you doubt God's goodness.
First, remember the works of God. Psalm 77:11 says, "I will remember the works of the LORD:..." You will see that the psalmist decided to remember what God did in the past. Too many people stop remembering God's past works and only dwell on what is happening in the present. You must always remember that the goodness of God is not dependent upon your circumstances. While you think God is not being fair, or that He is not being good to you, there is someone else who is proclaiming the goodness of God. Remember, you don't know the whole picture, but you must take time while you can't see the whole picture to remember what God has done for you in the past. You will never be successful at this until you start writing down and recording when God is good to you. It is when you are going through the tough times that you go back to your records and read the good works of God from the past.
Second, meditate on the works of God. Psalm 77:12 says, "I will meditate also of all thy work,..." Meditating is thinking. In other words, to meditate on the works of God is to think about the works of God. What I do in this step is I take God's good works that I remembered and begin to talk to Him about those works. I talk out loud to God about what He did for me. I find this helps to heal my doubts of God's goodness. Christian, if you will take the time to meditate and talk out loud to God about what He did for you in the past, you will find that God will begin to talk to you again. God gets excited when people talk to Him about the good that He has done.
Third, talk to others about the works of God. Psalm 77:12 continues when it says, "...and talk of thy doings." You will find that when you tell others that God is good, even when you are doubting His goodness, it will have a way of bringing you around to believing He is still good. Many times when a preacher is preaching on the goodness of God, he is talking himself into believing God's goodness because he is going through rough times. Every time he is done preaching, the preacher has talked himself out of his little pity party by telling others of God's goodness. Talking of God's works will help you to overcome your negative thoughts concerning God's goodness.
God is good all the time, but when you feel He is not good, you must take these three steps to get you through your rough time. Eventually you will see God's goodness, but until then, keep believing His goodness by remembering, meditating and talking of His works.