During a time that I was very sick, a friend told me that ‘God doesn’t want you to be sick,’ and that ‘God only gives good gifts.’
I wrestled with this for a long time. I struggled with the passage in Matthew 7 which says “Which of you fathers, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?… How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.” I read Psalm 84:11 which says “…no good thing doe he withhold from those whose walk is blameless” and I wondered why God was holding out on me.
If God is good, and gives good gifts, why do I hate so many of the things He gives me? Either God does not always give good gifts, or my perception of what is ‘good’ is warped.
I’ve come to believe the latter. So often my perspective is confined to the here and now. I look at my circumstances and what God has given me, and feel that they really aren’t all that good. However, when my perspective doesn’t line up with that of scripture, it’s me who needs to change.
Sometimes God gives us things that are hard to bear, but if we trust His word, we can see that ultimately He works ALL things together for our good. He is good and he gives good things, sometimes it’s us who need to recognize that what is ‘good’ does not always feel gratifying now.
sarsrose 
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Good idea to write a post about gifts, something we are so focused on this time of year. And you are right, people get tripped up often by their persception of what is good. This term is usually if not often defined by our own judgement, not God’s.
Thank you! It was a bit coincidental, but it does fit with the season!
Thanks for your insightful comment!
very true. Thanks for visiting my blog. I think you must be new to it? Thank you for your comments. I’ll check your blog out too!
Good thoughts. I’ve been reading Job lately. He had a hard time understanding God, as we all do in times of suffering. But I think it is important to pray it through and always be in conversation with God–to trust HIm always, even when we don’t understand His ways and His gifts.
Yes I love the book of Job! You’re right!
Too right Sarah, too often I can only see the negative of a certain situation at that point in time, however later on sometimes I can see some positives that have come from it and how I have grown and matured, or the situation has given me an insight which I never had before which wouldn’t have happened had this “negative” thing happened.
Too often we see things from our perspective and our timing, which is often quite different from Gods.
so true Sam. But it’s amazing how the scriptures tell us the future, how things will all play out in the end, so that, to an extent, we can try to see the positives now! x
Your post reminded of a small book called 90 Minutes in Heaven. The author of that book is a pastor who had a car accident, gone to heaven for 90 minutes, and then returned to tell about it. He tells about how he went through excruciating pain while undergoing surgery and treatment for the steel pins in his legs after the car accident. He couldn’t understand why God allowed for him to survive the accident and undergo months of physical pain. It was only after he was better, that he realized the only way he could ever relate to those who have gone through physical illnesses and treatments at the hospital, is only if he had experienced it himself. And because he did, he was able to relate to other patients and minister to them a whole lot more understandingly.
It is so true that we often only see the good in hindsight. But it is one of my life goals to try to cultivate this kind of spiritual hindsight in the present!