Life's Lessons (Part 4): Uncovering The Good In Life
Photo Courtesy of Aaron Burden Photography
the obvious
Growing up, there was hardly ever a dull moment in our house. With 3 boys involved in sports, it was a full-time job just managing to get every one of us to practice on time. Now that I have 5 kids of my own, I can sympathize with the effort that required. But as a kid, I couldn’t figure out how my mom managed to lose things as often as she did.
Keys, phone, sunglasses, you name it— something inevitably went missing. We’d turn the house upside-down looking for the lost item, and right about the time we’d decide to give up, it’d show up. Incredibly, it would be in the most obvious places. Like her purse, her pocket, or even on her head. And as you can imagine, my brothers and I took great pleasure in harassing our poor mom in those moments.
That’s how things tend to go for us. At some point or another, we all overlook the obvious. “Finding the good” in life suddenly turns into mission impossible. Before you know it, you’ve bought into the idea that “light’s only found at the end of the tunnel”. When in reality, it’s so much closer. Acts 17:28 (NLT) tells us:
“For in Him we live and move and exist”.
Author Michael Ward builds on this truth & says, “Because we exist in God, we sometimes find it hard to recognize Him. Surrounded and upheld by Him, we often overlook Him.”
The truth is, the goodness of God can be found at the beginning, the middle, and the end. He is—
the light of today.
That’s why there’s confidence in knowing that good can always be found. Because “good” isn’t just something God does, good is who God is. He’s always good, and He’s always near.
you just have to know where to look.
the word
Admittedly, there are times when we can’t seem to get there. Times in which we can’t see the obvious good that’s staring back at us. But even in the moments where you feel like you’ve lost your way, like “you’re not in Kansas anymore”—you can still find the goodness of God.
Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, you just have to “follow the yellow-brick road”. You have to find the path that ultimately gets you going in the right direction. In Psalm 119:105 (NLT), we’re shown the very thing that has the power to redirect us:
“Your Word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”
“A lamp to guide my feet”
When you think of the most successful teams in the world, what attributes come to mind? Probably things like ambition, resolve, dedication. Here’s one more indispensable attribute that all great teams have in common—preparation. They’re unquestionably prepared.
They don’t have confidence because they know exactly how the game’s going to go, or how a given situation will play out. Their confidence is in all the training & guidance they’ve received. They understand their role, they know what to expect, and they execute accordingly. Which is exactly why they often—
find themselves in the best position possible.
The same can be said as it relates to His Word. You may not always know where you’re going, but with the truth of God’s guidance, you can know how you’re going to get there.
Personally, I’ve been on both sides of the isle. I’ve seen what life looks like when your Bible collects dust. And I’ve experienced the goodness of God that’s revealed when you pick it up with real purpose. It’s convicting, comforting, confusing, enlightening, but above all—
it’s life-Changing.
“A Light for my path”
No matter how prepared you are, you’re inevitably going to run into situations where you feel outmatched or overwhelmed. In the book of 2 Kings 6:17 (MSG), we find the prophet Elisha (along with his servant) waking up to a surrounding army sent by the King of Aram. This huge fleet of soldiers were sent to capture Elisha for leaking information to the King of Israel.
Elisha’s servant does what most of us would do in that situation, he starts to panic. He exclaims, “Oh, master! What shall we do?” To which Elisha confidently replies, “Don’t worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side.”
“Then Elisha prayed, O God, open his eyes and let him see.” In a moment’s notice, the servant’s eyes are opened & he stares in wonder at a whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.” God ends up striking the army with blindness, Elisha & his servant go away unharmed, and we’re told the bands of Aram stayed away from the land of Israel.
There are many times when “how you feel” needs to be set straight by “what you know”. That’s the goodness & the power that’s afforded to us through God’s Word. It illuminates our situation in its’ entirety. It shines a light on the very real help that He surrounds us with in everyday life. Especially—
in our greatest moments of need.
The treasure
There’s good to be found in the obvious in life. There’s good to be found in God’s Word. But the “greatest good” that this world has ever known was buried. It was thrown out & trampled on, spit on, treated as if it were completely worthless.
Make no mistake, this treasure was flawless in every way. So good in fact, that most didn’t even realize that “this” was what good truly looks like. This treasure was the ultimate reflection of God’s goodness & it was found in His Son, Jesus.
So why, why on earth would God allow Him to suffer so harshly & be buried? Because God so loved the world. He loved us too much to allow sin to separate us from His goodness. But a good God is also a just God. The consequence of sin still had to be dealt with. And so through Jesus, God’s goodness prevailed in—
ransoming our sin & redeeming our lives.
God knows that underneath all this world heaps on us, is the real us. The people that He created. The people that Jesus died & rose again for. That’s why He calls us to place our entire hope & trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus was buried so that—
the real you could be uncovered.
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today’s Takeaways
“For in him we live & move & exist”
God’s word is life-Changing
He surrounds us in our greatest moments of need