When crisis hits, we often doubt everything. Sometimes we desperately try to find a Bible verse to speak to our precise situation—and usually can’t. But that is not the right way of things. We need to know God before tragedy comes.

After moving 4,295 kilometres, I arrived at my new city. On the same day, I was in the emergency room, urgent care (later in the day), lost my rental, and had our hotel fall through. All this with four kids trekking along with various maladies.

You could say it was an exciting day. Twenty-four hours later, we had short-term accommodations set up thanks to a church relationship. God was good, even on a particularly hard day.

But that should be no surprise. According to Psalm 119:68, God is good and does good. So David can say, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Ps. 145:9). The sequence of words here matters.

First, God is good. Therefore, second, God does good. Third, God is good to all.

This line of biblical reasoning matters more than you may think. When a crisis hits, you need to know God, not just about him. If God is good all the time and therefore does good to all, then he will be good to you when suffering comes.

Goodness for All

Notice then the pattern of David’s words in Psalm 145:14–19:

Read More