Opus 2011-246, Discernment Watch: Musical Heresy?

Yesterday morning during my personal worship I was listening to the mix of music on my I-pod.  Sometimes the music will penetrate through my thinking, touch my soul and I will have a Pentecostal moment.  At other times I get really irritated at the foolishness I am hearing.

Today was a foolishness moment.  I was listening to a medley and some words jumped out at me:

“God is too good to be unkind.”

The harmony was good, the accompaniment was powerful, the surrounding ideas were uplifting, but this beautiful thought is full of problems for anyone listening to the words instead of feeling the emotion. 

What does it mean in your mind to be unkind?  I know that I get pictures of kicking the dog, eating the last chocolate chip cookie, vacuuming in the living room during the Super Bowl, you know, things like that.  Most of us view it that way.  Is it fair to say that a righteous, holy, jealous God is not unkind by that definition of the word?  This is the God that kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden for one little mistake.  This is the God that allowed a virgin to go through all kinds of social rejection just to have a baby.  This is the God who sent His innocent Son to a cruel death for a bunch of ungrateful malefactors.

We have problems when we link the goodness of God with our idea of kindness.  Good exists.  Only God is truly good.  He defines goodness.  In that goodness He allows believers to suffer.  He allows injustice.  He allows wars.  In spite of that we accept He is good.

And God is kind, but that kindness does not always fit our definition.  The kindest thing that God can do is allow us to go through a hard experience that will help us to grow.  We don’t like it at the time.  We don’t consider it kindness.  We are wrong.

So, yes, God is too good to be unkind.  But always remember that His goodness is steeped in holiness and righteousness, not sympathy and warm fuzzies.

homo unius libri