Photo by Alem Sánchez
By reading Living Life with Blinders On, Julius Mosley’s book about God and His righteousness opens readers’ eyes to the divine goodness of the Lord.
Simply looking at the news and reading what is currently happening in the world, from train derailments, brutal murders, destructive earthquakes, and violent floods, it is easy for someone to question the divine goodness of the Lord. It is easy enough to become like Job and judge the actions of God and blame Him for every evil that has occurred in the world.
Yet, that blinds one to the fundamental truth: There can’t be anything without God. Just because one can theoretically trace everything back to the Lord (as Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things”), it is a criticism that comes from impotence and willful ignorance. It is like blaming the sun for blinding one’s eyes; it is blaming the farmer for having eaten spoilt food, the seawater for choking you. These are incidental, and such is evil to God, merely incidental.
Where Can One Find Evidence for God’s Goodness?
Yet, if you are cut from the same cloth as St. Thomas, who, though at first, was doubtful of the resurrection of Christ, only wished to see the marks of the crucifixion, there too is evidence, abundant and pervasive, of the goodness of the Lord. As Psalm 145:9 says, “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion in all He has made.”
Evidence from Creation
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sight of the setting sun? Watching as it descends down the horizon, bathing the world first in orange, pink, and then blue? Have you ever caught your breath after climbing up a mountain peak and realizing that the vastness of the world seems so tiny up above? Have you seen wild horses run? Have you ever felt snowflakes fall on your palms?
These events, these wonders of nature—they are all brimming with the divine, all filled with the goodness of God. Although there might exist bacteria, viruses, and diseases, there is also a great abundance of birds, butterflies, songs, trees, and the like.
Would a malevolent creator bless His beloved creations with such beauty and grace? With such moments of awe and marvel?
A lot of people, when they feel inquisitive or whenever they are in moments of deep resentment and anger, call out for evidence and go to creation to find it—but this is a heartrending folly; one cannot find evidence of God’s goodness in creation; it is creation itself that is evidence of God’s goodness.
Man is truly blessed for being able to live in a world that is with opportunities for whimsy and grief, bliss and anger, happiness, and despair. These experiences, these chances for making memories. They are all extensions of God’s fundamental goodness. It is what makes life worth living—the world and the moments you create.
Evidence from Devotion
Despite the limitations of humanity, its ignorance, greed, and wickedness, God still finds ways for humans to follow in His goodness. There is always an opportunity, however narrow and winding the road, for everyone to repent, to see the light that is the goodness of the Lord, and find inner peace. The opportunity is there before the act; it is there during it; and as it was present before and before, it is there after the act.
It is the inherent goodness of God that everyone is given a chance at life, given the freedom to do what they please, and given a chance to change and grow beneath His guidance. If God had wished it so, there would be no opportunity for humanity to overcome its innate imperfections. Yet, the goodness of God compelled Him to teach humanity the steps to enter His eternal kingdom.
Just waking up and knowing that there is a chance for you is evidence enough of God’s goodness.
Evidence from Salvation
Perhaps the most compelling case for the goodness of God is written in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Although humanity began in Paradise, in the lush gardens of Eden, with Adam and Eve–they were sinful; thus, the whole of humanity is innately sinful. Yet, God did not forsake His creations.
In fact, He allowed His only begotten son to sacrifice himself for the sins of all.
If this is not an act of supreme goodness–what is?
For more evidence of the divine and eternal goodness of the Lord, read Julius Mosley’s book about God and his righteousness, Living Life with Blinders On.
God is Good. Amen.
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