A farmer’s horse runs away. His neighbors sympathize: “That’s too bad.” He replies, “Maybe.”The story exposes something uncomfortable: we think we know what “good” and “bad” are, but our judgments are shallow, short sighted, and often wrong.
The next day the horse returns, bringing seven wild horses with it. The neighbors celebrate: “That’s wonderful!” He replies, “Maybe.”
Soon after, the farmer’s son tries to ride one of the wild horses, is thrown, and breaks his leg. The neighbors lament: “That’s terrible!” He replies, “Maybe.”
A few days later, conscription officers arrive to draft young men into the army. The son is spared because of his injury. The neighbors rejoice: “Isn’t that great?” He replies, “Maybe.”
At the surface level, “good” is already too broad. Good in what sense? Morally? Physically? Nutritionally? A “good dog,” a “good man,” and a “good pizza” are not the same kind of good. Even when we reduce “good” to “a positive outcome,” the parable shows how unstable that definition is. What seems good today may prove harmful tomorrow, and what seems bad may turn out to be a blessing.
Then Scripture adds a deeper complication:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9)If our hearts are deceitful, then our moral intuitions are not reliable guides. And the very next verse makes the point explicit:
“I, YHWH, search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways” (Jer. 17:10).In other words, the categories of “good” and “bad” must be defined by God, not by morally compromised human perception.
This is why Scripture insists,
“There is none who does good, not even one” (Ps. 14:3).Why? Because, as the psalm begins,
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt… there is none who does good” (Ps. 14:1).We fail to do good because we fail to know good — and we fail to know good because we fail to acknowledge God. Jesus affirms the same truth:
“No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18).If God alone is good, then goodness is not whatever we find pleasant, comfortable, or advantageous. Goodness is whatever aligns with God’s character, God’s purposes, and God’s design.
Good is that which accords with the true purpose, flourishing, and moral order of creation as defined by God Himself. It includes right intention, right action, right outcome, and right purpose — all measured by the One who searches the heart.
This is why “good” is so elusive. You cannot define it without first defining what humans are for. And you cannot define what humans are for without acknowledging the God who made them.
Once you do that, the entire shape of “good” changes. Everything God does is good — whether or not it feels pleasant, comfortable, or immediately understandable to us.
5 comments:
I've been thinking about good and evil in regards to the existence of God lately. If God doesn't exist, morality is not a real concept, and all we really have is preferable experiences. God, as Creator, determines good and evil. And we have to figure out where we can find His determinations on what is good and evil because we've hardened our hearts against Him. Rebels never want to obey those they rebel against.
“Good is that which … includes right intention, right action, right outcome, and right purpose.” With that helpful definition, we can truly know that only God does good. By nature, He can’t do anything but the very best thing in every instance, while we rarely do that. In fact, our human limitations create both “the Problem of Evil” and “the Problem of Good”--as two sides of the same coin. We judge by human standards, with limited vision, and with self-serving motivations. We call that which is evil “good” and vice versa. We can’t even determine “good, better, best” properly, since we don’t know all the possible options and potential ramifications; only God knows the whole story and sees the full picture and has the power and foreknowledge to work all things together for good--by His perfect and certain standards. How blessed to be one who is trusting in a truly good God!
P.S. I liked the Chinese farmer story and wished it went on a bit further! I am convinced that in heaven we will all be able to look back on our earthly lives and understand how the various chains of events played out for good. For now, I recognize the wisdom of “maybe” in light of my finite abilities and God’s unlimited ones.
I believe "happiness" is measured in a similar fashion.
This is a good point. If you look at how various Evolution apologists refer to morality, they agree with you. In fact, their worldview rests on morality being equal to self interest, despite the fact that they don't live in accordance with their own worldview.
Others opine that morality is somehow determined by some sort of majority consensus. The problem with this construct is that billions of Muslims agree that (for example) child marriage is moral, or that slavery is moral. Further, this means that morality changes with the times. At one point slavery is moral, at another it's not.
I think that on some level we want a universal moral standard, yet on another we revel in the ambiguity.
Which is why the problem usually is that we substitute our own guesses about what is good for YHWH's absolute knowledge about what is good. He knows the beginning and the end and works His will accordingly, we see a very tiny sliver of the whole picture and presume to lecture Him based on that.
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