When something positive happens, some Christians have a tendency to respond with “God is good”. I got some of these replies after texting about the results of my first blood test after radiation treatment for cancer. I don’t mean to knock the thought. But I often wonder, what would the reply be if the news was negative?
Does my undetectable cancer test really mean God is good? is article #30 in the series: Do not waste your cancer. Click this button to view titles for the entire series
It’s like the image of Sherlock Holmes. He’s searching for something.
Of course, fans of the fictional detective will think he’s good if he finds what he’s looking for. But will they all of a sudden think he’s no good if he fails to find whatever he’s searching for?
Or, when he fails, do they chalk it up to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator/author of Holmes, Watson, Moriarty, Colonel Sebastian Moran, etc? If we’re in touch with reality, then we blame Doyle if we don’t like what’s happening in the book.
In that case, the judge of whether something’s good or bad is us. We pass judgment on Conan Doyle’s writing.
However, as Christians, we claim to believe God is good. Furthermore, that God is good all the time. And that all the time God is good.
Does my undetectable cancer test really mean God is good?
But, my question is this. Do we live like we truly believe that
And that’s why I ask, “Does my undetectable cancer test really mean God is good?” After all, a claim that God is good because my cancer was undetectable places a condition on God’s goodness. Namely, the condition is that my cancer test was negative. That, in turn, begs a question. Is God still good if evidence of cancer was found, resulting in a positive test result?
Is there a difference between God is good and God is sovereign?
If God is good either way, then there’s no conditional needed or possible. If God is good – then God is good. Period. He’s not good based on a test result. So, why do we only say God is good when the result is what we want it to be?
I have yet to get a reply to any positive test, throughout this journey, that’s been accompanied by a God is good statement.
Instead, it’s God is sovereign.
Why do we do that? Why is God good when the result is what we want? And why is God sovereign when we don’t get the result we want?
Isn’t God both good and sovereign all the time?
God is good, all the time – All the time, God is good
God is good, all the time – All the time, God is good. Does that sound familiar? A lot of Christian congregations use these statements as a greeting/response kind of statement.
I’ve been to multiple churches where this is used. I even wrote about it before. But this is the first time I decided to find out the source for it. Interestingly, while many sites pointed to verses that were the source, none of them used those words. None of them were in a greeting/response format. And none of them contained the dual statement format.
It was interesting. So many verses were pointed to by various websites. It seemed odd, because Christians tend to take verses, word for word, from some translation of the Bible. But this one is a thought. Something that required some analysis to understand what it meant.
It’s not just some neat little phrases that we use in the traditional greeting/response format. It’s about God – who He is. And it’s about us understanding that and living like it.
From the author of the song, God Is Good, All the time
There’s a song titled God Is Good, All the Time. Below is an excerpt from an article of the same name.
“God Is Good, All the Time”
TITLE: “God Is Good, All the time”
AUTHOR: Dean McIntyre
TUNE: GOD IS GOOD
COMPOSER: Dean McIntyre
SOURCE: Worship & Song (2011), no. 3026 SOURCE: Zion Still Sings (2007), no. 18
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 86:5; 107:1; 145; 145:9
TOPIC: prayer, God’s presence, doubt, hope, fear, despair, sorrow, hope, singing, thanks and praise
Background
Some years ago, the phrase “God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good” became popular and spread throughout the church. It was used as a greeting and as a response, often in call-and-response pattern; and it remains in use today.
In 2001 on a long flight from Nashville to Seattle and then on the return flight, I wrote three songs, this being the first. The other two songs, “In the Quiet of This Moment” and “Until Jesus Comes” are also included in Worship && Song. I first wrote down the melody and words on an American Airlines drink napkin as we were being served complimentary drinks somewhere over Colorado and finished off the first verse upon returning home.
The editorial committee for the Abingdon Press Zion Still Sings songbook decided to include it and asked for additional verses that might be used for a variety of times and occasions, and I provided stanzas 2-5. The five stanzas are not intended to be sung together. You may find it useful to use one or more stanzas at a time.
Words
The “God is good, God is good all the time” phrase is repeated as the first, second, and fourth phrases in the song. …
The lines for phrase three provide the variety of use for the song as they describe various emotions and human conditions:
st. 1: doubts, fears and tears contrasted with hopes and joys
st. 2: alone in our despair
st. 3: surrounded by love
st. 4: singing, even in time of sorrow
st. 5: raising thanks and praise to God
In all these emotions and conditions, of course, the message is that God is good, all the time.
The background is interesting. It’s always nice to know what led someone to write any given song, because it can bring a new perspective and deeper meaning to us when we listen to and/or sing it.
But I also want to point out the items below:
TOPIC: prayer, God’s presence, doubt, hope, fear, despair, sorrow, hope, singing, thanks and praise
There’s a whole lot of stuff in there that isn’t generally considered “good”.
And don’t gloss over the thanks and praise.
We see in the stanza lines above (the ones beginning with “st.”) the seeming contradictions.
And yet, there are no contradictions.
How can there be no contradictions in God is good all the time?
How can I say there’s no contradiction when things are bad, but God is good? It’s rather simple, really. It’s just hard to remember when things aren’t so good.
Here’s the thing. There’s a passage in John’s Gospel that the NIV titled The Disciples’ Grief Will Turn to Joy. It’s a bit long. But it all matters. And it answers our question at the very end.
The Disciples’ Grief Will Turn to Joy
Are we supposed to Believe God, Believe in God or Follow God?
Are we supposed to Believe God, Believe in God or Follow God? Are those three sets of words all different? Or do they all mean the same thing? Well, it depends. When were you born? What culture do you live in / come from? Most important, are you willing to learn what they meant when they were said? In some cases, that’s almost two thousand years ago. In others, several thousand years ago. We need to look at what they meant when they were said, in order to understand what they mean today.
The title alone is very telling. The disciples felt grief at what Jesus was telling them. And yet, when they come to understand His words ( later on) those same things that caused them grief will become cause for great joy.
The same change of feelings is available to us as well. In fact, it’s available earlier than it was to the disciples. At this point, they didn’t yet have the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the meaning of Jesus’ words didn’t sink in. After they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, it was a total reversal of feelings for them.
Since we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, if/when we take the time to try to understand, and to be transformed, then we can also feel more and more of what the disciples felt back then. And our grief can also turn to joy.
Jn 16:17 Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
Today, after the fact, we know what Jesus meant. But His disciples didn’t have a clue. And so, they felt anxiety.
In the next portion of the passage, Jesus tries to explain His words.
Jn 16:19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
Jn 16:25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
Look what happens next though. Understanding. To an extent. But not full understanding.
Jn 16:29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
What the disciples said they understood doesn’t address Jesus’ original statements. It doesn’t even get into Jesus going away for a time. Knowing this, Jesus continued.
Jn 16:31 “You believe at last!”Jesus answered. 32 “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
Jesus explains more. And it’s even worse than what He said to begin with. Now Jesus tells His disciples that they will leave Him! Furthermore, that they’ll be scattered. And still hanging in their minds somewhere must be the part about Jesus leaving them to go to the Father.
Finally, we read:
Jn 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Peace. Even with trouble. Because Jesus has overcome the world. This is why there are no contradictions in God is good all the time.
Does my undetectable cancer test really mean God is good?
I believe the best answer to this question – Does my undetectable cancer test really mean God is good? – is no.
That’s right. No.
Why not? Because the result of my cancer test isn’t what makes God good.
The outcomes of any troubles, trials, bad situations of any kind in this life aren’t what makes God good.
If they were, then God could be either good or bad, at any given time, depending on how we feel about the events in our lives. How can we God is good all the time, when God tells us we will have troubles, if we think God’s goodness comes from good results in our lives? We can’t do that.
It would be a contradiction to call God good all the time if He did and/or allowed things to happen to us that we think are bad. That makes no sense. If we’re results oriented in our decisions on God’s goodness, and those decisions are about this life, then even being diagnosed with cancer would mean God isn’t good.
However, when we look at what truly makes God good, then there are no such problems. God is good because He has a way for us to overcome the world, Satan, in the same way Jesus did. Sort of. He gives us the choice to overcome Satan’s power in this life because Jesus did. We’re allowed to participate in Jesus’ victory. To get atonement for our sins through Jesus’ perfect life and His death on the cross.
These things are a choice we make in this life. A choice to follow Jesus. And while this life is full of bad things, the good things come afterwards. In the next life.
But – even this isn’t quite the whole story either.
Look again at the last words from Jesus in the passage. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We can begin to feel that peace, even in the midst of the problems. I believe, especially in the midst of the problems.
After feeling so much peace in the nearly four years since I was diagnosed with cancer, I can say God is good, all the time.
No one told me, when I was first diagnosed, that God was good. But He was.
People told me, after the surgery to remove my prostate, that God was good. And He was
When the cancer came back after the surgery, no one told me God was good. But He was.
During radiation treatment, no one told me God was good. But He was.
After the blood test showing no evidence of cancer, people again told me God is good. And He is.
If the cancer returns, what will people say? That God is sovereign? That God’s in control? Or how about God is good?
God is good. All the time. Because He is our hope and salvation. For peace in this life and for eternity with Him after that.
God is good all the time. All the time God is good.
We just need to learn what it means, accept it as part of His gift of salvation, and live like it.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay