God Is Good ALL The Time!

A couple of weeks ago, a dear friend of mine (pictured above with her husband) was hanging on to life by a thread. Many, many prayers from people all around the world were said on her behalf, and God answered so many of those prayers in a miraculous way. We prayed for her to survive, not one, but two brain surgeries to remove a tumor the doctors originally said was cancer. God answered those prayers! We prayed for her to “wake up” from her coma, and she did! We prayed that she would have “her wits about her” when she did wake up, and God answered that prayer! We prayed for it not to be cancer, and it wasn’t!!! I prayed for money to come in for a collection I was heading up for one of her family members, and God laid it on people’s hearts in a BIG way! I had never experienced so many answers to prayer in such a short time; prayers answered in just the way I wanted them to be answered. My response, many times throughout those weeks, was, “God is sooo good!”

And then I got to thinking (and, of course, Satan “helped” me by planting negative thoughts in my mind – all of which I listened to) about something I had been praying about off and on for over a year. Despite many prayers, the outcome wasn’t what I expected. Sometimes I would get discouraged, give up, and stop praying. My frustration comes because I think I know better than God. I decide how my prayer should be answered, and I am not pleased when the Lord’s answer may differ from mine. While Jesus does promise that we will receive an answer when we ask (Matthew 7:8), He doesn’t promise that we will get what we ask for. Instead, He promises that we will get what we need. I have no idea why God answers different prayers in different ways except that He, being all-wise and all-knowing, is aware of what is the best for us - sometimes that is to answer a prayer in the negative. Unfortunately, many times throughout this past year, my response has NOT been, “God is sooo good!”

It’s easy to believe God is good when your life is free from trials and your prayers are getting answered like you want. But do we believe God is good when our life is in turmoil, and we are not receiving the answer we want from God? As the Gaither Vocal Band sings, “God is good, yes He is. He’s good all the time….He’s not good just now and then, He’s good all the time!” Let’s not just say the words, let’s really believe them!!