The specific Goodness of God in Salvation 

In the last post we looked at the importance for our spiritual lives of knowing, understanding, recognizing and appreciating the Goodness of God.  Creation is one of the main places where the broad goodness of God is revealed.  I suggested four ways we can help keep sight of the pervasive goodness of creation.

However, there are parts of creation that we don't experience as good - disasters, sickness, and the sin and evil that occurs between humans.   This is where appreciating the second source of God's goodness is vital (in addition to keeping in mind the general goodness of God in creation).

In Genesis 1-3, the bible clearly communicates that creation is good but that it is also broken: humans are separated from God; in conflict with each other; and face difficulties in dealing with creation.  

The good news is that at a macro level, the rest of the bible is a record of how God has acted, is acting, and will act in the universe to save us from this brokenness.  It is the specific Goodness of God in Salvation.
 

• God chose Abraham to follow him and promised that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed

• God rescued Israel from slaverly in Egypt and brought them to a promised land and taught them how to live

• God establised Israel and remarkably preserved them over centuries through invasions and even exile - even through times of disobedience

• God finally sent Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy to reconcile us to God, release us from the power of evil and give us hope for future resurrection and a renewed creation.

So when we encounter pain and evil, we can focus on the specific Goodness of God in Salvation - God is doing something about it.  Even when it seems God isn't acting quickly enough for our particular situation,  God has acted, is acting and will act to ultimately resolve all of brokeness in the world.

Here are some ways we can develop a habit of keeping our sight on the specific Goodness of God in Salvation:
 

• Scriptures: read and meditate on scriptures that talk about the goodness of God in salvation.

• Songs: sing songs in church and in our cars that talk about the goodness of God in salvation.

• (Hi)Story: reflect on the reality of the continued existence of the Jewish Nation

• (The Lord's) Supper:  Taking communion and remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus.