As persons created in God’s image, we are always responding to the wonders of God’s good creation and to the realities we experience within us and all around us. We like, we dislike, we prefer, we desire. We are always evaluating. We approve; we disapprove.
“For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, . . . and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they [men] are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations . . .. Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Rom 1:20-22).
Whatever we decide is to our advantage or not to our advantage; whatever is to our liking or not to our liking; whatever we consider good or not good; whatever we determine to be worthy of our approval or not worthy of our approval — our physical features and personal characteristics; our capacities, relationships, abilities, circumstances, and experiences; life’s ways, laws, duties — if it is what God has ordained and is bringing about in our lives, it is good and worthy of approval. God always only does good.
When God disciplines us, we find it hard, but He is only doing it because He is good and it is for our good (Heb 12:10). He cannot do less because He is faithful. He will not withhold from us anything that is good for us.
“It is good for me that I was afflicted,
That I may learn Thy statutes” (Ps 119:71).
God chose you before the foundation of the world. He designed you and gives you life and instructs you in it according to His provision for it to be the very best for you. It is the one life you have. This is your reality.
“For You formed my vital parts;
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
I give You thanks for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are extraordinary
And my soul is knowing it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret.
I was skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth
Your eyes beheld my unseen substance.
And in Your book they were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them,
How precious are Your purposes for me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake and still I am with You” (Ps 139:13-18).
(Spotlight 4, Lesson 9 in Doctrine 101: Learning about God)