For most of my life, I’ve lived with this awful belief that although good things happen in my life, each will be followed by something equally as bad.

For instance, if I was just hired for the job of my dreams, I’d probably only be kept in that position until someone better qualified was found. Or, after having saved enough money to go on the vacation of a lifetime, I go and end up getting deathly ill while there. These may sound ridiculous and obviously speak to much more deeply-seeded issues than can be discussed here, but the reality is I was afraid of any good things that happened in my life (from the most minor to most major) because I was just waiting for something bad to follow.

True, the Christian life is fraught with many more road bumps and challenges than many of us are led to believe when we first become followers of Jesus. But, it’s not supposed to only be hard. The Christian life is also meant to be vibrant, exciting, fulfilling—a rich testimony of God’s goodness to us and love for us. (Jesus even says in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”—emphasis mine).

One day recently, I was wrestling with the apparent contradiction of what I know to be true and what I feel is true. Knowing that God is good but feeling like the bottom would always fall out of anything good that happened in my life. And as I was wrestling with this, I stumbled upon this verse in Proverbs 10.

The blessing of the Lord brings wealth. In other words, God blesses us with good things. He gives us an abundance of good things (not necessarily material wealth specifically but good things, good friends, good opportunities, good lessons, etc) out of the overflow of His character and His love for us.

And he adds no trouble to it. This is the part of the verse that nearly jumped off the page of my Bible when I read it. He brings good things into our lives. Period. End. Not, “He brings good things for a season but then He decides to grab it back and make life difficult just to be mean and vindictive.”

True, bad things still happen in our lives. And, while He does use the bad for His purposes and turns it into good (Romans 8:28), He’s not usually the one who brings about the bad. (That is a whole other devotional in itself….)

I’ll admit that while this makes tons of sense in my head, it’s taken a bit of time for it to really seep into my heart. There are still times when I am afraid and doubt and wonder what bad thing will follow the good. But, by and large, God continues to prove His love for me and His good intentions for me. And, He asks me over and over to believe that I am His daughter and He desires to do good things in my life.

My prayer is that today you’d really be able to grasp hold of that truth too. God is a good Father who loves you and longs to do good in your life as well.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him (Matthew 7:11)!

© 2005 Kingdom Building Ministries.