Day 12 | Goodness Application
Read Amos 5:4–15
After yesterday’s reading, we know God is good. Yet, we may look at our lives and wonder, “Where is the evidence of His goodness?” When we experience seasons of grief, hurt, loneliness, or trauma, we may question, “Is God truly good?” When reading the chapters following Genesis 1, we find passages outlining the sin that entered the world. These difficulties were not part of God’s plan; His goodness rests outside the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin.
Later in the Old Testament, we find Amos, a sheep-breeder-turned-prophet, in his namesake book. God speaks through him in the middle of Israel’s struggles of injustice and neglect under their king, Jeroboam II. God tells Israel to “seek me” and “pursue good,” which notes the two are synonyms. Around 40 years after Amos’ prophecies to Israel, they were captured by Assyria (see 2 Kings 17). Not because God wasn’t good, but because He was sovereign and had a plan for Israel, which included the consequence of being exiled. Our challenging situations are not a reflection of God’s goodness. On the contrary, we can always find His goodness in our pain (though perhaps not in the midst of it).
We see this throughout the Bible:
- God was good to Rahab and spared her life, though she lost her home (see Joshua 6).
- Ruth saw God’s goodness yet suffered significant losses (see Ruth 1–4).
- Hannah experienced God’s goodness after years of infertility (see 1 Samuel 1–2).
- God was good to Job, even though he was stripped of worldly pleasures (see Job 1; 42).
Their situations did not demonstrate God’s absence or lack of goodness. Through their challenges and trials—in God’s sovereignty—He was good. Let’s be intentional during this fast to discover the goodness of God in our
stories—even amid hurt and grief. We must never overlook God’s goodness in our lives because of our situation. God’s goodness is not dependent on our circumstances. As the saying goes, “God is good all the time; all the time, God is good.”
Pray for 10 minutes