What is Good?

In The Shack, God challenges the main character, Mack, saying that he "must give up [his] right to decide what is good and evil on [his] own terms." More and more I am realizing that I can't accurately judge what is "good" and what isn't. Quite frankly I'm wrong a lot, thinking that hard things are "bad" because I'm looking at them from my own perspective, when really they produce growth, healing, and make me cling to God more.

More and more when people ask how my day is going, I find myself wondering...is it "good" or "bad"? I don't really know. "Hard" does not automatically equate to "good" or "bad." Not all hard things produce growth or have purpose: there is the pain of a wound being inflicted (bad pain/damaging pain) and the pain of a wound being healed (good pain/healing pain)---cleaning out the cut, putting on some Neosporin and a Band-aid. Pain with a healing purpose still hurts, but it hurts in a different way.

Sometimes I don't know which kind of pain I'm experiencing, but God does. I'm amazed at how God knows what is good for me and what I need so much more accurately than I do. Isaiah 48:17 says, "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” God knows what is best and He knows what is good, even when I'm not sure what that is.

He's More Than You Can Imagine...

I recently read The Shack by William P. Young. It was so good I almost had the whole thing done in one day! It's about this Dad whose daughter is kidnapped and killed (it wasn't gory---the word "blood" was probably in the book a total of three times) and how God leads the Dad---his name was Mack----back to the place where his daughter died to work through his inaccurate perceptions of God, forgiveness, etc. The most interesting part is how the author depicts God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the types of characters that he casts them as and how they interact with each other and with Mack.

One of the things that hit me most was when God gently and lovingly told Mack, "I am not who you think I am, Mackenzie." That phrase really resonated with me. In essence, He was saying, "There's so much MORE to me than what you believe about me. I am so much BETTER than how you currently perceive me!"

God could totally say that to me right now: "I'm not who you think I am, Joanne." It's a freeing realization, really. Even though it means I don't understand Him. He's so much MORE than I can imagine! A lot of times I end up painting God to be like humans that I know, but He's so much more than that. As my friend Helen from COAT would say, "God has to be different. He just has to be." Will you pray that God will paint an accurate view of Himself for me in the coming months? What a joy that will be to see!