When You Can’t See the Good in Things (Guest Post)

As I wrap up my month of November and the writing competition of NanoWrimo, first one has been quite an experience let me tell you. Anyway, I have been honored to have my blog taken over once again this time by my friend with a voice like the angels, Jordan Fortenboher. Jordan is a wife, soon-to-be-mom, blogger, and singer-songwriter. Her goal is to share hope with the world by writing honestly about her struggle with anxiety and how God is carrying her through it. You can read more of her writing or check out her music (including her latest album!) at http://jordanforty.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, NIV)

Sometimes, really hard things happen. Over and over, we see both worldwide and personal tragedies, struggles, and hardships. It can be easy to think life is cruel, especially in seasons when it seems like we deal with trial after trial after trial.

Those difficult seasons are often when we wrestle with deep tensions: Is God really good? Why do bad things happen? Is God really Sovereign? Is He intervening, even when it doesn’t look like He is?

In the middle of my own struggles, I’ve found myself wrestling with those questions and begging God to reveal why He would allow bad things to happen. And the verse above, Romans 8:28, was starting to bother me.

This past week, the question was mainly, “God, please show me where I am supposed to find the good in all of this. How are you going to work this together for good? Because I can’t see it right now.”

At first, there was no answer. There was silence. The waiting for answers is always excruciating. My anxiety issues seem to compound. It makes me feel like screaming. My heart pounds loudly along with my worries, a rhythm of anxiety and distrust and overall fear. A selfish, basal reaction that God doesn’t deserve from me. And yet, that’s how I seem to behave when His timing differs from mine.

But this time, after a few moments, the silence led me to stillness. There was relief in knowing at least I had asked my questions. I was honest and sought God. So I tried to still my anxious heart and settle in the silence, in the knowing (despite not feeling) that God is still with me.

After a few minutes, when I was finally quiet, the answer came, but not like I expected. I expected a logical, well-defined reasoning for this particular struggle. I expected some kind of simple explanation that would carry me through the trial.

But no, this answer came so softly, so quietly, I could hardly hear it in my heart. A sweet, tender whisper drifted over and above my simple way of thinking: “Trust.”

That was it. One word: trust. A word that I had heard many times before. A word that I had spent a year focusing on. And yet, a word that caused me to pause. A word I still haven’t learned.

God is teaching me (even still) to trust. He’s asking me to let go of my desperate need for understanding and trust that His ways are higher than my own. His ways are better than mine.

God’s ways are beyond my understanding, but so is His knowledge. His thoughts and reasons are beyond me, but so is His goodness. His vision, ability, power, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, and goodness are all so far beyond. And that’s a good thing.

I will not understand, but I can trust that, in His Sovereignty, God can and will work all these things together for the ultimate good.

The more I trust and wait, the more I begin to see God’s good fingerprints everywhere. Maybe it takes the trusting to get to the seeing and understanding part. Maybe it all just takes time.

Regardless, I believe that we will see the goodness of God in time, when we open our eyes and look for it, when we are still enough to listen.

We may not understand everything that happens or see everything resolve until the Lord returns. But we can trust that God is good and has it all within His control.

And we can know for sure that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (paraphrase, Romans 8:28).

Where have you seen God working things together for good lately? Share with us in the comments!