Experiencing God's Goodness in the Midst of Trial

Pretend with me for a moment. You have a career. You’re not just any employee, you’re well liked, dependable, approachable, and coachable. In two days, your boss, who loves you, is going to congratulate you on a pay raise because the work you’ve done over the past month has made you an asset to the company and deserving of a pay raise.

You also attend a church whose values line up with yours, and the community you surround yourself with is also a big part of this church. In addition, this church you attend has a hipster name, like Gethsemane, and serves coffee before every service. It’s obviously a highly-favored church with a name like Gethsemane.

Moving to your friend group. Most of your tight-knit circle is from church, with the exception of a few coworkers and friends from the weekend tennis club you joined last month. Because of your vibrant personality, you make friends quickly because you are so well liked. Thanks to Instagram, your spouse is well liked too, and you have to set reminders on your phone to ensure the topic does not revolve around him in all conversations with your friends.

Ok, you get the gist. You have a good life. You have the kind of life that allows you to play cornhole at a BBQ you hosted for your church-going Christian friends while also setting aside enough time to minister to your work friends, see your mentor on a weekly basis, attend a small group led by an elder of the church you go to, and go on some quality time dates with your spouse. There’s a lot of good going on that even your best friend would have to go deep sea diving to find something wrong with your life.

But say something did go wrong. For the sake of the point, we’re not going to list the endless possibilities and combinations of what could derail a perfect life. What do you do when something disrupts it?

Unfortunately, it is often the case that the God we praise on Sunday mornings quickly becomes the subject of attack. Suddenly, the God we discuss at 7pm Tuesday night “Life Group” becomes the Customer Service Complaint Center. Worse, our prayers turn into temper tantrums that would make any bystander question your friendship with God to begin with.

Does this sound too harsh? Unfortunately, even if these situation are not spot on, they set an example for how we treat God when our faith in him is put to the test. When we behave like this, we step off the rocky foundation our house should be built on (Matthew 7:24). We even sometimes look up at the house we built on the rock, shake our finger at it, and start building sandcastles below it. Once the waves crash in, we pout, whine, moan and groan as if the house we built our life on during the good times does not exist.

My dad would always address my stormy seasons with John 16:33 growing up: “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” He would address me and my hard times with this Bible verse because he knew there was something greater we had in Jesus. Our friendship with Jesus is the house built on rock. Any time we take our eyes off Jesus during any personal crisis, epidemic, or pandemic which might stir up fear and doubt, we start building new houses on sand without God. The harsh reality is that some of us who say we are Christians during “Christmastime” seasons are waging war with God during the “Stormy” seasons. To that I say, “Choose a side!” If you accept God into your heart during the good, this does not automatically withhold you from experiencing pain; what it does do is give you a place of refuge in the midst of the battles, storms, and painful seasons of life. It give you a place to stand when the Devil commands you to sit. It give you a house to reside in whose foundation rests on a rock where no storm can wipe it out.

And when we build our house on the rock, we are building it upon the truth of God, in the good and bad seasons of life. In the seasons where we feel like our world is being flipped upside down and during seasons of victory. John Piper wrote a book during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 called, Coronavirus and Christ. In it, he asserts, “Our heart says ‘yes! We have tasted and seen’ [that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8)]…the knowing is well founded. We are not leaping in the dark.” The firm foundation built on rock is tasting and seeing the Lord is good no matter how our seasons pan out. Why? Because our firm foundation is ‘well founded.’

During my troubles, dad emphasized the fact that the world’s troubles will never amount to the love and care we have in Jesus. In Jesus, we are cared for beyond any trouble that will come our way. In this world, we will always come out victorious, even if it feels like we have lost too much. The first part of John 16:33 is equally applicable: “I have told you these things so that you may have peace.” When do we need the most peace? When we’re feeling anxious, scared, and filled with worry! When do we have anxiety and fear? In the midst of our personal storms. Our personal storms are when we need the peace of God to “transcend all understanding…so that [his peace] will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). The peace of God, which has overcome the world, is the rock which we build our foundation on. In fact, we know that God’s peace is a major part of our foundation because that is what Jesus left us with before he ascended to heaven after his resurrection: “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give you is a gift the world cannot give” (John 14:27). We can weather any storm with this gift. “Live or die, you will be with [God]…this is a firm rock under my feet. It is not fragile, not sand,” Piper writes in his book. Much like building our foundation on rock, the rock represents knowing God is in control whether we live or die. “Live or die, you will be with me” is having the peace of mind in the here and now because his will is for us to be with and him with us; that he loves us and will protect us at all costs.

Where this is illustrated perfectly, in a small yet profound moment, is in Genesis 22, when Abraham starts one of his days with an interesting command from God. “Take your son, your only son, whom you love…Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” ‘Interesting’ is a word that does not even do justice to describe the magnitude of that request. It is interesting enough for God to command any father to kill his son, but at this point in the Bible story, God is asking Abraham to sacrifice the one son he blessed Sarah and Abraham with at old age.

The absurdity of this command has multiple layers. First, what kind of loving God would ask you to sacrifice a young child, let alone your own child whom you love deeply? Second, Abraham and Sarah gave birth to Isaac after a long life without children together. Isaac was the only child given to the both of them by God, and right when you thought the layers of this command couldn’t make it more otherworldly than it already is, Abraham and Sarah were around 100 years old when they finally had a child to call their own (Genesis 21:1-7).

So, when Genesis 22 does not waste any time introducing us with God telling Abraham to replace the animal sacrifices with his son Isaac, it makes you wonder what was actually going through Abraham’s mind when the very next verse explains that he went straight to loading his donkey the following morning (see Genesis 22:3) in preparation to sacrifice his only son as a burnt offering.

Does Abraham ever think, Yeah God, I’m going to have to pass on that, or Am I hearing you correctly God? We can only infer that Abraham’s obedience to God is a measure of the level of faith he has that God can be trusted. “Faith had taught him not to argue, but to obey,” Matthew Henry writes in his commentary of Genesis 22. Faith is the assurance that what “God commands is good.” Do our strong trials exercise our strong faith and trust in God, or does it bring forth doubt, defiance, and lack of reverence?

Sometimes, our faith and assurance in the goodness of God must extend beyond one moment and one season. The trip to Moriah that God commanded Abraham to go to was not a three hour hike. According to Genesis 22:4, it was the third day of Abraham and Isaac’s journey before he even saw the place where Isaac would be sacrificed. By day three, Abraham only saw the place, so it had to have taken more than three days to get there. Regardless of whether it took three days or more, Matthew Henry concludes that three days symbolized a “time to consider and might deliberately obey.”

Whether you are waiting for a life-long partner, moving on from heartbreak, a pandemic to end, a secure career to line up in your favor, moving into a stable living condition, a three day trip to Moriah looks quite different to you. Whatever your season looks like, in your moments of uncertainty and time of deliberation, do you still hold true to the promises of God? Do you still believe God’s goodness will reign supreme? In the three day journey, God could have stopped Abraham and said, “Don’t do it! Don’t kill your son!” In the three days, Abraham could have argued with God, telling him, “If you’re a good God, you would provide a sheep to take the place of Isaac!”

We do that with God. Often, our prayers sound more like courtroom accusations than an act of faith and reverence to the Lord’s will. We question his authority and sovereignty as if our bitter words will jolt him out of his apathetic attitude towards humanity and force him to do something that aligns with our desires. We don’t trust God’s narrative, so we label him a lazy, untrustworthy God for not changing it for our benefit. At best, we give God the silent treatment until he is worthy of praise.

But what if, instead of trying to force God to change his narrative through fighting words, we trusted in the promises of God throughout his narrative? Take a look at how Abraham responds when his son asks him about the sacrifice:

“Isaac turned to Abraham and said, ‘Father?’

‘Yes, my son?’

‘We have the fire and the wood,’ the boy said, ‘but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?’

‘God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son…’”

This dialogue between father and son is so powerful because it is the definition of faith and trust within the story. God will provide. There is no time to argue with God, so in my obedience, I will trust that God knows best. This is Abraham’s mindset towards God. Abraham only knew that he was supposed to kill his son. He did not yet know God would provide an animal sacrifice to replace Isaac. But faith knew. Faith in the goodness of God knew. The story ends with God providing a ram for Abraham to take the place of Isaac so he wouldn’t have to die. Furthermore, Abraham is blessed beyond measure for his faith that God would spare Isaac. “Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you” (Gen. 22:16-17). And bless Abraham he did; with a number of descendants so great, Abraham couldn’t even count them.

Not once did Abraham question God, argue with God, or belittle God in this passage because of faith and a knowledge of God’s character. There is something powerful about standing true to what you know about God and not letting circumstances interfere with how you see him.

Your faith, trust, and reverence towards God should be the most important aspect of each season. Your circumstances shouldn’t determine your view of God; your allegiance to God should be the lens you view your circumstances through. Let the character of God guide you through the pay raises and the heartbreaks of life. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you, whether your life is viewed as flawless or you’ve hit rock bottom. The goodness of God does not change because circumstances do. No matter which direction your life is headed, let God be the consistent beacon of hope in every season, because he is a perfect God who will guide us through every troubling experience we face.

What your belief and trust in God will do is allow you to overcome every obstacle that stands in your way because your faith is grounded in a powerful God who can help you weather any storm. You are armed with peace, understanding, patience, and strength when you press into the goodness of God and not let your current situation define the sovereignty of God. With God, all things are possible, and you can rest in knowing that no storm is too big for him.

Check out this video link that explains my view on COVID-19 and Genesis 22