But You Told Me God is Good? | October 25, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Trouble Comes, Keep Reading the Sentence

Life’s hardest moments tempt us to put a period on God’s goodness. But Scripture invites us to keep reading past the pain. The story isn’t over when grief, betrayal, or unanswered prayers strike. Like Eve waiting millennia to see the serpent’s head crushed, we hold to a God whose timeline stretches beyond our breath. His goodness isn’t measured by our momentary relief but by His eternal character. Trust grows when we let Him write the next sentence. [01:01:08]

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. (Nahum 1:7, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you placed a “period” on God’s involvement in your pain? What might it look like to let Him write the next sentence instead?

Day 2: Four Thousand Years in the Grave, Then a Knock

Eve died without seeing God’s promise fulfilled. Yet four thousand years later, Jesus stormed death’s prison to declare victory. Some promises outlive our lifespans. What feels like divine silence may be the quiet before resurrection. God’s faithfulness isn’t bound by our calendars or cemeteries. His goodness works in epochs, not just episodes. [56:36]

He descended into the lower regions, the earth. He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, to fill the whole universe. (Ephesians 4:9-10, ESV)

Reflection: What promise or prayer have you buried as “too late”? How might eternity reshape your view of God’s timing?

Day 3: Job’s 123 Verses and Zero Answers

God didn’t explain Job’s suffering—He revealed Himself. When we demand “why,” Heaven responds with “Who.” Trust isn’t built on getting answers but on knowing the Answer-Giver. Our pain becomes a portal to encounter God’s power, wisdom, and care, even when His purposes stay veiled. [01:13:39]

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” (Job 38:1-3, ESV)

Reflection: Are you seeking explanations more than seeking God’s presence? How might clinging to His character comfort you more than answers?

Day 4: From Head to Heart—Goodness That Survives Storms

Mental assent to God’s goodness shatters in life’s tempests. Jesus slept in the boat not because He controlled the storm, but because He trusted the Father. When trials expose the gap between our theology and our tears, God invites us to transplant truth from our brains to our bones. [01:21:48]

I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. (2 Timothy 1:12, ESV)

Reflection: Where does your knowledge of God’s goodness feel disconnected from your lived experience? What one step could help bridge that gap today?

Day 5: Waiting Patiently With a Pouting Heart

David wrote psalms of lament before writing psalms of praise. God welcomes our honest wrestling—the “wait patiently” of Psalm 27 follows raw cries of abandonment. Trust isn’t the absence of frustration but the choice to keep showing up with our doubts, our pouts, and our stubborn hope. [01:19:04]

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

Reflection: What unmet longing makes patience feel impossible? How might courage look different than stoicism as you wait?

Sermon Summary

God’s goodness can be confessed with the mouth while hurt, anger, and skepticism remain settled in the heart. Loss makes that tension painfully real. A child dies, a marriage breaks, or cancer comes, and faithful believers find themselves asking how a good God could allow it. Prayer, giving, serving, and speaking Scripture do not turn life in a broken world into a straight line of good experiences. God’s goodness has to become more than a mantra.

The promise to Eve exposes the limits of measuring God by a human lifetime. Her seed would crush the serpent’s head, yet Abel died, Cain wandered, and generations passed without the promise reaching its fulfillment. Christ’s victory declares that God had not lied. His faithfulness reaches beyond the little box of time in which people expect every answer. God is not good because every experience feels good. He is good through eternity.

Nahum 1:7 holds goodness, trouble, refuge, and trust together. “The Lord is good” cannot be separated from “when trouble comes.” Trouble does not prove that God has moved away. He remains close to those who trust him, even when pain makes that closeness hard to feel. The hurt must not become the final sentence that defines God and ends the relationship. Jesus’ movement from felt abandonment to committing his spirit into the Father’s hands gives suffering believers a pattern for trust.

Job’s questions receive a revelation of God’s wisdom, power, sovereignty, and care rather than an explanation of every loss. Paul likewise rests in knowing the one he trusts while suffering in prison. Faith moves from demanding a satisfactory “why” toward knowing who God is. Psalm 27 calls believers to expect his goodness, take courage, and wait patiently. That waiting is not denial of sorrow. It is confidence that sorrow does not get the last word about God.

Key Takeaways

1. God’s Goodness Outlasts A Human Lifetime. Eve’s promise did not reach fulfillment within the years she could see, but the delay did not make God a liar. Christ’s victory places that promise within an eternal story rather than a single lifetime. Faith can acknowledge the ache of unfinished things without making personal experience the final judge of God’s character. [57:08]
2. Trouble Does Not Cancel God’s Closeness. Nahum places God’s goodness and refuge right alongside the arrival of trouble. Pain can make God feel far away, but that feeling does not establish that he has abandoned the hurting. Trust means continuing to lean on him when his presence is harder to recognize than the hurt. [1:09:52]
3. Knowing God Matters Beyond Knowing Why. Job wanted an explanation, but God answered by revealing his wisdom, power, sovereignty, and care for creation. The unanswered question remained, yet it no longer had to carry the whole weight of faith. A believer’s confidence can rest in God’s character without pretending that every tragedy makes sense. [1:13:13]
4. Patient Waiting Requires Courage After Hurt. A renewed decision to trust does not guarantee an immediate change in circumstances. Psalm 27 joins waiting patiently with being brave and courageous, refusing to treat waiting as helpless resignation. Goodness settled in the heart allows believers to remain confident without setting God a deadline. [1:18:39]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[37:24] - But God Was Supposed To Be Good
[43:20] - Goodness Beyond A Mantra
[46:56] - Eve’s Promise And A Broken World
[54:15] - God’s Faithfulness Beyond A Lifetime
[59:56] - Nahum: Goodness, Refuge, And Trouble
[1:02:55] - From Felt Abandonment To Trust
[1:06:26] - Life Is Not A Straight Line
[1:11:46] - Job’s Questions And God’s Answer
[1:15:41] - Paul Knows The One He Trusts
[1:16:41] - Another Step Beyond The Hurt
[1:18:39] - Waiting With Courage And Confidence
[1:19:43] - An Invitation To Trust Again

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Nahum 1:7
“The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.” [59:56]

Job 38-41
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 'Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” [01:11:46]

Psalm 27:13-14
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” [01:16:16]

Observation questions

In Nahum 1:7, what does God offer people facing trouble, and how does trust fit into that picture? [01:00:29]
In Job 38–41, what does God reveal about himself instead of explaining the reasons for Job’s suffering? What examples from creation help show this? [01:13:33]
In Psalm 27:13–14, what expectation goes alongside waiting, and what attitudes are believers called to bring to that waiting? [01:18:17]

Interpretation questions

How does Nahum 1:7 challenge the idea that prayer, giving, and serving God should protect a faithful believer from painful experiences? [01:08:08]
Why might someone feel abandoned by God even while God remains close? How does Jesus’ movement from expressing anguish to entrusting himself to the Father help explain the difference between feeling abandoned and choosing to trust? [01:03:03]
How could God’s response in Job 38–41 help a grieving person trust his character without concluding that the loss itself was good or that every tragedy makes sense? [01:13:33]
Why does Psalm 27:13–14 connect waiting with courage? What distinguishes patient trust from simply giving up on expecting anything from God? [01:19:04]

Application questions

If you feel comfortable sharing, when have your words about God’s goodness differed from what you were feeling inside? What would it look like to bring that tension honestly to God rather than hide it? [43:20]
God’s faithfulness reaches beyond what one lifetime can reveal. Is there an unanswered prayer or unfinished hope you have been measuring against your own deadline? How might an eternal perspective help you hold that hope without minimizing the ache of waiting? [58:32]
When trouble makes God feel far away, what do you tend to do—withdraw, stay busy, seek support, or something else? What small step toward taking refuge in him feels possible for you this week? [01:10:07]
Is there a question about suffering that feels as though it must be answered before you can trust God again? Which aspect of God’s character revealed in Job 38–41 would you like to know more deeply, and how might you explore it this week? [01:15:13]
Where are you being asked to wait right now? What could courageous waiting look like in one ordinary decision this week, even if your circumstances do not change? [01:18:43]
Think of someone who is hurting or disappointed with God. How could you offer companionship and practical care without rushing to explain the pain or pressuring that person to feel better? What might you do or say this week? [01:16:49]

Sermon Clips

33s

#TrustGod

“Job repeatedly demanded God to explain his suffering. Here's God's answer. God responded with a 123 verses revealing his wisdom, power, sovereignty, and care for creation without one time ever explaining to Job why. In other words, Mark, if you want me to explain why, you're never gonna make it with me. You need to know who I am, not why things are happening.”

42s

#GodIsWriting

“Because when life hurts you, and it does, it... Jesus even said, the the world will give you trouble. When life hurts you and the period comes, it is the wise human that steps into the next sentence and says, well, I don't know about all that hell. Can't figure it all out, but there's more to be written. And a lot of times, Christians quit allowing God to write their story because they redefined God in the last sentence.”

40s

#GodsGoodness

“If God is only good in a box of time, then he's not good. He has to be good through eternity. Because his goodness sometimes is not seen in my box of time, but his goodness will be seen when all of a sudden one day he calls me home, and I go over and there's the child that I lost. And that child says, mom, he's been good to me the whole time. And you're like, oh my god. I I just missed you so bad. Mom, it's been incredible.”

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