The Goodness of God in Exodus
“Sometimes the providence of God is best seen looking backward.”
I heard these words several months back while listening to a sermon series by Life Church pastor Craig Groeschel on one of my daily walks. When I heard this message and these particular words, I was currently in the midst of a difficult and confusing space, and the message of hope I heard through this message spoke poignantly to my place of discouragement. While I didn’t find myself, like the Israelites, in a foreign country oppressed by slavery and facing potential annihilation, I was in a painful situation, uncertain how God might bring me through. These words by Craig were like a balm to my heart. I was reminded that although sometimes, during our hard times, it can be challenging to see, God is always GOOD and always working FOR our good. He has shown himself faithful through countless experiences throughout my life, just as He showed up for those we read about in scripture. Even when we can’t see it, that doesn’t mean God isn’t good or is not working behind the scenes. Instead, He walks with us in the pain, in the hard, and dwells with us until we can look back and see what He knew all along. And this is the story of the Israelites in the book of Exodus.
The Goodness of God: The Book of Job
What would cause anyone to look for the goodness of God in a book about suffering?
If we were to only read through the first two chapters of the book, we would find a man who is noted for fearing God and turning away from evil who loses everything in one day, then spends the next 37 chapters questioning the God we are told he feared. Why turn to this book to define a good God?
Because this is what Job called Him.
As Was His Custom: Studying Scripture and Meditation
Although many secular scholars label Jesus as a country bumpkin, who probably couldn’t read or write, there’s adequate reason to believe that He could do both. We know from Luke 4:16 that Jesus was invited to read on the Sabbath in his hometown synagogue. While the other Scripture that talks of Jesus’ writing is not found in the earliest manuscripts (John 7:53-8:11), we can deduce that if He knew how to read, He would have also learned to write.