God Is Great. God Is Good. Is that Enough?

Confession time: I finally had my coronavirus meltdown. It happened last weekend.

Things were going okay for us here in New York, more or less. For the first month of lockdown, I dutifully looked for the silver lining around this dark cloud: Family game night became a near-nightly occurrence. The kids played well together and bore the new logistics of life bravely. My wife beat Bop-It.

We're doing it, I thought. We're really doing it!

And then last Saturday the mayor announced that our children would not be returning to school this year. And I wish I could tell you I took that news like a champ but, the truth is, that was the last straw for me. For most of the day I cycled through all the stages of grief—anger, blame, denial, and the rest of them—until I'd pretty well tuckered myself out.  

Times like these are especially hard for people of faith who believe God should act a certain way or deliver on certain promises. For people who are wired to ask, What is God doing in all this? Maybe you prayed for a great job and you got one (answered prayer!) and then COVID-19 hit and you got downsized. Maybe you waited and waited to find a spouse and you found one (thank you, Jesus!) and then your wedding was canceled because people aren't allowed to gather. Maybe, like me, your child had a really crappy time in school last year and you prayed and prayed for a spot in a better school and got one (hallelujah!), and it was great after all and your child was thriving, and then school was canceled, just like that, in the middle of the year. 

You probably feel angry about those things. I feel angry sometimes. I think that's normal. And I think God can handle it. 

The truth is, I don't know what God is doing in all this. (He doesn't run things by me.) Honestly I don't see much value in speculating about what God is doing in all this. But here are three things I keep reminding myself are true about God while I continue to feel all sorts of ways.

At minimum, I remind myself that God is great. That he is bigger than COVID-19 and that this pandemic didn't catch him off guard. That all the things that are uncertain for many of us—our jobs, our health, our future—are certain for God. That he can make a way where we don't see a way. It's important to know that God is not up in heaven wringing his hands, anxious and perplexed. No—God has our current situation very well in hand. 

But it's not enough to believe that God is great. It's important to remember that God is good. That God utilizes his greatness for our flourishing. Because an almighty God who isn't good is an almighty terror. A God who's great but not good will send a virus that kills thousands and spins the planet into chaos as judgment against Jews and Democrats. A great-but-not-good God is pretty popular, it turns out. In a recent poll, nearly half the people questioned agreed that the coronavirus is an act of judgment from God, meant to serve as a "wake up call." A great, good God is a comfort to the brokenhearted, not the cause of their heartbreak.

A fish can have an owner that's great (the source of every material need) and good (has the fish's best interest at heart), but a great and good owner doesn't know what it's like to be a fish. That's why, for my money, it's important to remember that God gets it. In Jesus, God experienced grief (John 11:35) and despair (Matthew 27:46). He was hungry (Matthew 4:2). He was abandoned by his closest friends (Mark 14:50). 

We are all suffering loss, experiencing grief, feeling the pain of isolation. Instead of speculating about why these things are happening, let us find comfort in the fact that God, in Jesus, was a "man of sorrows" and "acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3).