Believing God is Good…No Matter What

Scripture of the Day
Luke 11:34 AMP – “The eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive, focused on God], your whole body also is full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But when it is bad [spiritually blind], your body also is full of darkness [devoid of God’s word].”
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Jamia’s Nugget
Seeking God’s goodness daily helps us to expect good things to show up in our lives. God’s goodness isn’t hiding, and his goodness doesn’t make limited appearances . . . we just have to have eyes that seek to find it. Sometimes life’s circumstances – grief, illness, trauma, etc. – make it blurry or not so evident, but we must believe it’s there even when our minds and hearts tell us it’s not.

When Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus and told them he was praying that the “eyes of [their] heart may be enlightened.” Here’s the deal: grace, mercy, love surround us…even when we feel like it doesn’t. Life gets hard! Sometimes we deal with things that can shake the faith of even the strongest person! Sometimes those valleys run so deep that it feels like we will never get out of it 😢. But guess what? Sometimes when God’s favor is the least visible, it is functioning at high levels on our behalf, so that we can reach for the hand of God that is always extended to us.

“No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [He is reliable, trustworthy and ever true to His promise—He can be depended on], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].” ~ ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Notice the two choices to the valleys – a way out OR a way through it – all w/ Him by our side. Trusting in His promises is the way we get out of the pits. We must train our eyes to see His goodness and seek the good He consistently reveals. It’s always present! We just have to open our eyes and hearts to see it.

Where’s your “faith”?

Faith. It’s one of those things we hear about all the time, whether one believes in God or not. It’s usually centered on believing something will or will not happen. But for the Christian, what does the Bible say about faith?

Faith or belief is not something that is given by God. It is something that man does or has in order to please God. Hebrews 11 is based on the fundamental idea that man is personally responsible for mustering up an “obedient trust”. Obedient trust…what is that? According to Heb 11 and other illustrations throughout the Bible it is a trust that provokes a prescribed action. The best illustration would be the “trust fall”. A person believes another will catch him/her therefore, they fall according to that trust. This is exactly how faith works. God “calls” individuals through His written Word (2 Thessalonians 2:14).

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” ~ Romans 10:17

Individuals build a “faith” within that word that then inspires obedience. In turn, the written Word can generate faith in the individual (Romans 10:17).

Rom 10:14-17 illustrates this exact sequence: (1) the preacher preaches; (2) the individual hears the preached word; and (3) the individual believes.

¹⁴ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” ¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Then, as referenced by Heb 11:6, an obedient trust then causes man to act within God’s prescribed specifications, aka God’s Word.

So without a daily feasting on the Word of God, faith (or obedient trust) will be weak and/or lacking.

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Jamia E.

Christian. Wife. Mother. Educator. Model. Actress.

Lord, give me the wisdom to navigate through this life all to your glory. 

James 3:13-18