What's Good About It?

I recently wrote a whole series on suffering and God's Sovereignty. It can be a sticky subject and I wanted to give it fair treatment. But it does beg the question ... Are things all that bad?

Christians are commanded to give thanks in everything. We are told to "rejoice evermore". Jesus said He came to give life and "that more abundantly". It seems that the perception from God's point of view is that, while things can certainly be difficult, there is a whole lot of good going on. I think that sometimes we lose sight of that, so I wanted to give it some thought.

I asked myself the other day, "What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?" I'm not sure I could come up with a positive answer. First, I had to think hard about what I considered suffering in my life and then I had to figure out what I thought was worse than what else and then ... well, you know ... suffering varies in degrees and it's hard to quantify it. But then I asked myself the reverse: "What is the best think that ever happened to you?" It was a similar question but a radically different response.

I listed my wife and my kids, my parents, my family. I listed the care that God has given me over my life. (If you knew the story of my jobs, for instance, you'd likely see as I do the hand of God at every turn.) There was the privilege of being born in America and a general good health and comfortable living. There was ... well, so much. Again, though, I ran into the problem of quantifying what was good. What would I rate as better than what? How would I compare and rank all of the good? You see, I think, despite the raging questions over suffering and God's role in it, that there is far more for which to be grateful than there is about which to complain ... and not just for me. But what was the best thing?

And then it hit me. Hands down without a doubt the very best thing that has ever happened to me is this: Someone died. I know ... confusing ... but bear with me. It, interestingly, ties together both God's Sovereignty in suffering and the best thing that ever happened. This past week we recognized, again, the death of our Savior. Today we celebrate His Resurrection, the ultimate triumph over death. We celebrate that the Son of God laid aside His claim to be God to become human, to live a perfect, sinless life, and to pay for our sin by dying on our behalf. We celebrate the death of death, the provision of eternal life, the imputation of His righteousness to us, sinners. We celebrate victory over Satan and, even while we struggle in this life with failure and sin, we exult in knowing that He has covered it all. And we celebrate the individual nature of it -- what the Scriptures repeatedly refer to as being "chosen". However you choose to view that term, it is in there. We are "the elect", "the chosen", "saints". Get that? "Saints". We who were sinners without hope are now declared holy! We who were enemies of God have been reconciled to Him. All of this (and so very much more) is all due to that which we celebrate today, Christ's death and resurrection.

The best thing that ever happened to me, then, was that He died for me, rose again, and is now the King of kings and Lord of lords. When I lay it all out in my head (or, at best, give that task a start), I cannot even fathom the question, "What's good about it?" What is not? Suffering? Yeah, I've had it. But all of that pales in comparison to the glory of being chosen, saved, bought by the blood, declared a child of God, and all the benefits that accompany that. That, then, is a huge example of God's Sovereignty in suffering (giving us His Son) and good.