A Prayer

Father,

You are good and do good. You have told us that in Scripture. And we know it’s true, but not just because of what we've read. We know it’s true because we have experienced Your goodness in our lives. We have experienced it in ways that have been absolutely life changing. And we have experienced it in the ordinariness of everyday life. Father, we are grateful for Your goodness which we have enjoyed. It is a great blessing to know You as the good God that You are.

And yet - there always seems to be that 'and yet'. And yet, we sometimes struggle with the promise of Your goodness. We struggle with it, Father, when we are confronted with evil.

Much of the evil that we face is relatively minor. So, we just deal with it and move on. But there are times, Father, when the evil is too much. We can't just move on. There are times when the evil thrusts itself into our lives, demanding center stage and getting it. It's not just a little something.

And when these evils strike, life hurts. Sometimes, it hurts a lot. And that's when we have a hard time with the Scripture's assertion that You are good and do good.  Do You, the good God, also send evil?

Father, this is where we need You to remind us of the bigger picture. It's so easy just to think about ourselves. But what You're up to is so much larger than that. This is where we need You to remind us that You're in the process of bringing in a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.

You're in the process of redeeming all of this and making it into a place where there will never be any evil again. And as part of Your plan to get to that goal, You use evil. You send it our way.

So, help us, Father. Help us to accept the role You have for us in Your grand plan as evil comes our way. You are still the God who is good and does good. Help us to see life this way so that we can rejoice. Oh, those situations will be painful, and there will be tears, but we can still rejoice because You are moving all of creation to its glorious conclusion. Help us to imitate our Savior Jesus who was able, by the Spirit, to accept the evil that engulfed Him so that good would come about. Help us to live like He did so that, like Him, we can make You look good. Through Christ our Lord Amen.