Daily Devotional

Do you pray before you eat, thanking God for the food and asking Him to nourish your body? When I was growing up, my parents taught us a prayer they wanted us all to say together before our evening meal. It went like this, “God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for this food: By His hand we all are fed, give us, Lord, our daily bread. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” What I love about this simple prayer is, it starts off praising God because of His greatness and His goodness. We usually said this prayer super-fast, because we were starving, and my Mom always had something really good for us to eat. But as I thought about the prayer later, I realized, that this prayer starts off by thanking God for His goodness. And I had to ask myself the question, “Do I really believe God is good?”

I’ve heard too many people over the years questioning God’s goodness. In the area of humanity, “Why doesn’t God fix our problems and give us what we want?” In the area of evil and sin, “Why didn’t God make us so we could NOT sin?” In the area of bad experiences, “Why can’t God keep me from going through trauma, losing my job, failed relationships, or a bad diagnosis?” In the area of suffering “Why does God allow innocent people to experience hardship?”

Well, even in the midst of all the problems in life, I want you to know that God has a good plan for you.

Rick Warren, author of “Purpose-Driven Life” said “Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty, and pointless.”

A lot of people, especially younger people, struggle finding their purpose in life. And as a result, they experience depression, lack of motivation, and frustration.

Jeremiah 29:11
"‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

Scholars have hotly debated this text because it is not written as a general promise to everyone. The context is God’s people Israel in captivity in a foreign land. The prophet Jeremiah reminds the people that they might not experience freedom in their lifetime, but God still has a plan. And that plan was to provide salvation to His people through a messiah. Little did they know that this messiah, Jesus, wouldn’t come till hundreds of years later.

Even though these verses were written to the Israelites, there are still principles that apply to us. God is a good God, even when our circumstances are not. He may not fix every hardship immediately, but He promises to always walk with us through our suffering.

God’s plan for us is good. It comes through His only begotten Son whom He gave to us, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Jn.3:16). Through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for sin on the cross, you can receive forgiveness for sin through believing in Him. In His goodness, God met your number one need, forgiveness for sin. And you can experience God’s good plan for your life by building a relationship with Him.

Are you struggling? Do you question God’s goodness? Start with prayer. Believe God has what’s best in mind for us. He will never purposely bring harm to us. He invites us to trust Him. To experience the deep love He has for us. He doesn’t solve all our problems like we may expect Him to, but He does have a plan, and that plan is good. He wants to help us succeed in life through true peace and joy.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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