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Are Good Times Bad?
Yenny Kartika Official Writer
1179Jeremiah
32:18, 19
You show
lovingkindness to thousands … You are great in counsel and mighty in work.
Bible
Reading for a Year
[bible]psalm105[/bible]; [bible]0luke17[/bible]; [bible]joshu21-22[/bible]
Some books and
sermons often question Christians whether their faith is strong enough to
withstand bad times? However, this time I will ask myself a different question:
“Is my strong enough to survive good times?”
Many times I find
people drifting away from the Lord not when life is bad but when it’s good.
That’s when God seems unnecessary.
Too often we
interpret His blessing as indication of our goodness, not His. We assume we
deserve everything pleasant that happens. Nevertheless, we fail to appreciate what
He is telling us about Himself through the good gifts He lets us enjoy.
In his book The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis wrote, “God
whispers to us in our pleasures … but shouts in our pains.” If we refuse to listen
when He whispers to us, He may use shouts to get our attention.
That happened to
the Israelites. Although God had given them “a land flowing with milk and
honey,” they turned from Him, so He caused “calamity to come upon them” ([bible]Jerem32:22-23[/bible]).
The goodness of God
is a reason to obey Him, not an opportunity to disobey. When we realize that,
our relationship with the Lord will be strengthened, not weakened, by His
wonderful bounty and blessing.
The goodness of God speaks volumes about His character.
