I ran across these thoughts that Nanci wrote, and we shared on her Caring Bridge page several years ago:

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for Yahweh; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for Yahweh!” (Psalm 27:13-14).

To “look upon the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living” does not mean all of us will live as long as we want or that all of life will go according to our desired wishes. God’s goodness toward us is what He knows to be the best good, now and forever, and not what we think to be the best good for us.

His good may not always feel pleasant or even fair in my limited perspective, but the truth is: His good is always perfectly designed for me. Yahweh’s good carries His plans for my life; and His plans are better than I can imagine.

God often blesses us by revealing some of the purposes which propel His goodness in our lives. These are times when it is easier to continue walking the path He has chosen for us. But He sometimes withholds the reasons for His choice of goodness in our lives until we see Him face to face. This too is part of His goodness toward us.

He desires that we trust in His character rather than our circumstances. For me to believe with all my heart in the goodness of God—under all circumstances—blesses my Father, my Savior, and my Comforter. That is to say: it causes God to rejoice in me. What could possibly be better?!

As Nanci affirmed, God knows everything, including every contingency, and He knows what is ultimately best in ways we cannot. God can see ultimate purposes and plans that we can’t. Because He knows all things in the past, present, and future, God is uniquely qualified to know when to ordain or permit evil and suffering and when not to.

Do we criticize a great composer whose symphony doesn’t end in ten minutes or half an hour? Do we complain when he moves from a major key to a minor key and back to a major? No, we celebrate his artistry. When we hear the dark and melancholic sections, we don’t conclude he’s made a mistake. Once we reach the ending, we recognize the symphony as a far greater work than one that consists of only bright melodies.

A concert may last three hours. God’s concert has lasted thousands of years. What if the melody and harmony, major and minor keys all prove in the end to have contributed to the whole?

“‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). God gave this promise to the Israelites when they lived in a minor key, during a period of melancholic dissonance.

When we view life through the eyes of faith, we can say, “Things appear one way, but my God is sovereign, loving, merciful, and kind. Through His grace and empowerment, I will cling to Him. I will come out on the other side of this evil and suffering a deeper and more Christlike person, marked forever by Jesus’ grace. And someday I will see that every minute was worth it.”

Nanci is with Jesus, the One she loved and trusted through her cancer. Her faith is now sight—and indeed, she knows that every moment of pain and suffering was worth it.

Photo: Unsplash