2 posts tagged “goodness”

I was reading in Lamentations and was struck how often the author of Lamentations (most likely Jeremiah) describes God Himself as the source of Israel's desolate situation (and remember that Lamentations has many prophetic references to the Holocaust).

4 He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel;
he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
mourning and lamentation.

Lamentations 2:4-5

What really challenges me anew here is the fact that regardless of my situation...regardless of what was done to me by anyone...in the end run, I have to come to grips with the fact that God allowed it to happen. God could have stopped it. But He didn't. And it's here that I have a choice.

a) I break down and lose faith in God's omnipotence (God was not able to stop it, even though he would have wanted to)
b) I break down and lose faith in God's goodness (God did not care to stop it, even though he could have)
c) I go the way of Lamentations: I take it up with God, I let loose my pain and my anger and my grief on God Almighty Himself, yet I keep His goodness and His omnipotence as my anchor. I may not get all the answers I'm looking for, especially not to the ever-present "WHY"... but after a while, I will be reminded of something:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

And intimately knowing and experiencing this is what we really need...far more than answers to our questions.

This passage in Nahum reminds me of Narnia where Mr. Beaver is talking about Aslan and when he's asked (I think by Lucy) whether Aslan is a "safe" lion, he responds, "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Nahum 1:1-6 goes into great detail about God's wrath and awesome power. And then comes this passage:

1:6 No one can withstand his indignation! 
No one can resist his fierce anger!

His wrath is poured out like volcanic fire,
boulders are broken up as he approaches.

1:7 The Lord is good –
indeed, he is a fortress in time of distress,
and he protects those who seek refuge in him.

I love that contrast, that tension, and I especially love how the strength and might of God's wrath and awesome power doesn't at all take away from his being good. In fact, it's just the opposite - it upholds his goodness, it enables him to truly be a fortress which cannot be shaken.