God Is Good All The Time

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME

Matthew 14:22-32

God is good all the time, All the time God is good.

We tend to say that and perhaps only believe it when life is going great.

You ask her to marry and she says yes. “GIG” (God is good)

You get an unexpected raise. “GIG”

Meryl beats Darcy in a horse race, “GIG”

You and your family are sitting around a campfire. The temp. is 68. The sound of whippoorwills can be heard from the trees. Where your horses are tied out they become a silhouette against the setting sun in the western sky. And you think this is as close to heaven as I’ll get on this side of eternity. “GIG”

Heres the deal. Pleasant episodes don’t happen all the time for anybody. Mixed in with all the pleasant episodes are the unpleasant ones. And if it is true that GIGATT (God is good all the time) then it has to be true that God is good in unpleasant as well as the pleasant.

Yet how hard it is to say and sometimes believe that God is good when it seems you have been dealt a bad hand.

How often do we say GIG when bad stuff happens.

Imagine chasing your horses that got out on the highway and saying, “GIG”

Pulling a calf in subzero weather at 3 a.m. “GIG”

Paying bills, truck payment 500 check balance 400 “GIG”

Or more serious stuff

Spouse walks out after years of marriage “GIG”

Doctor report is bad “GIG”

GIGATT is usually not what we are thinking. Its often thoughts of doubt and fear which is very dangerous because doubt and fear can make a bad situation worse because doubt and fear lead to panic and panic leads to irrational decisions.

The purpose of this message it to protect us from the consequences of doubts and fears.

We are going to read a story about a group of men that experienced a pleasant and unpleasant episode all in the same day. And how Jesus saved them from the consequence of doubt and fear.

Jesus fed 5000 plus. Imagine all the GIG going on! This was an ultra pleasant situation!

Boy that had given 5 loaves of bread and two fish and saw it multiplied must have thought “GIG”

Disciples passing out food “GIG”

People receiving the food and eating “GIG”

Discple picked up 12 basket of leftover food. This was the Golden Corral buffet on steroids! “GIG”

We usually don’t want to leave a situation like that. Want to bask in it. “God don’t let this end.

Some of us may be thinking that right now. Here we are in a warm barn, warm loving fellowship, free coffee, praising the Lord. A pleasant situation. But tomorrow Monday, the stress of the job…etc We don’t want the weekend to end…”God don’t let Monday happen.”

…Yet the disciples had to leave.

Matt 14:23

Jesus made them leave. Greek word for made is force. Jesus had to force the disciples to get in the boat and leave.

Parents know about this. Make kids leave something pleasant and fun.

Mom: “Kid’s its time to get out of the swimming pool and get in the truck.”

Kids: Wait let me jump one more time!

Mom: “Kids I said get in the truck!

Kids: Wait mom watch this. (they do a cannonball off the diving board)

Mom: Kid’s if I have to tell you one more time! Don’t make me come in there and get you!

Kids: Yeah mom that would be awesome…jump in and get us!

Sometimes parents have to force kids to leave something pleasant.

I wonder what Jesus had to do to make these boys get in the boat.

Disciples: “Wait a minute Jesus there is so much food left over. Lets hang around till breakfast!”

Jesus: No boys I said get in the boat.

Disciples: Jesus do something else really cool…another miracle

Jesus: Boys I don’t want to have to tell you again. Don’t make me send 10000 angels down to get you in the boat!

They didn’t want to leave and who could blame them this was such a pleasant experience.

What they didn’t know was that Jesus was sending them into an unpleasant situation.

Read v.23-24 The word for buffeted means tormented. Up to this point the soundtrack in their mind was playing. God is so good, God is so good, God is so good He’s so good to me. THE storm hit and in an instant the soundtrack changed to the theme music for Jaws.

That’s what life is like isn’t it?

It can change in an instant.

Sometimes those unpleasant situations can be a mere inconvenience but sometimes they can be torment.

When your hopes are dashed and the future looks uncertain it can be torment. Those times will come for you and I.