by Sarah Wootten
“The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works,” (Psalm 145:17, ESV).
The goodness of the Lord God is beyond our imagination. His righteousness and His kindness permeates everything that He does. There has never been a single flaw in His character, His decrees, or in His actions. When He created the world, it was good. When He formed mankind, it was very good. Even when the Father sent the Son to die, God’s goodness was on display in a way that the world had never seen before. In everything that God has done, we find Him to be immeasurably good.
It’s really easy to say that God is good when what He does makes us comfortable. When He sends us an extra check that we weren’t expecting and now we can pay the light bill, we quickly say that God is good, and rightfully so. When we look at the cross and see the sacrifice that was paid on our behalf so that we might be forgiven of sins and live eternally with Him, it’s easy to thank Him for His goodness. Where would we be without His extension of kindness towards us?
But do you know when it’s harder to see the goodness of God? It’s a lot harder when we don’t like the circumstances. For example, I was reminded last week of the reason why Jesus didn’t go immediately to heal Lazarus when He was summoned. Jesus stayed where He was for two more days because He loved Mary and Martha (John 11:5-6). The two sisters suffered an incredible heartbreak in the loss of their brother; yet, Jesus waiting for Lazarus to die was a grand demonstration of His kindness towards them because God had something wonderful to teach them.
As we approach the next section of 1 Corinthians, many people’s knee-jerk reaction will be that God’s design isn’t good. However, since we know that God is good in all that He does, we have to realize that it’s not God’s design that is flawed; it’s our sinful hearts that are influenced by the world around us. It is our sinful hearts that believe the lies within us. We desperately need the Lord to renew our minds to help us see that He is good and perfect in all His ways (Romans 12:2).
In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul begins discussing women’s roles within the worship service of a gathered congregation, and he’s focusing on how women should conduct themselves as they participate. This section is often referred to as the “head coverings” section because Paul instructs the women that they should cover their heads while praying or prophesying in the worship service. (Bonus: this is also the passage where the South gets its tradition of men not wearing hats in church. I’ll let you read the chapter to see if you agree or disagree with the practice.) To be honest, a small newspaper column is not the ideal medium to address such a controversial topic. Even faithful Christians have disagreed concerning this passage for a long time, which shows that I cannot cover every nuance, every argument, or every idea that people have from this chapter. And even if I did, everyone would stop reading well before I was halfway through!
Next week, Lord willing, we will begin to examine the reasons why Paul is instructing the women to cover their heads while praying or prophesying in the worship service. His instructions aren’t based on culture nor are they oppressive. Instead, the instructions are based on God’s good design in creation, in marriage, and in the Trinity.
I hope you’ll read along as we discuss these topics, and I’ll be praying for all of us, that God would soften our hearts to the truth of His word and through His renewal of our minds, we would all see how His every word, action, and decree is always good.
This article originally appeared in The Clarion Newspaper.
Corinth Baptist Church 