Pray Goodness for Your Home

As I sat in the emergency room with Matt’s aunt, many medical professionals came and went, but one beautiful young woman came in and introduced herself as Tova. 

“Is that Hebrew?” I asked. 

She paused and gave me a surprised look. “Yes,” she said. 

This was meaningful for me, because my soul had been living in Psalm 119:68 for the last week: “You are good and do good.” I had been saying this verse over and over and over in my mind. The Hebrew word for good is “tov,” which means goodness in every possible sense of the word, with welfare, prosperity, happiness and overall benefit. It’s the word we see on repeat in Genesis chapter one, when God creates something new and then stands back and says, “This is good.” “Tova” is the feminine word for good in Hebrew and is often used as a female name.

There we sat, with Aunt Joan struggling to breathe and doctors and nurses doing everything they could to help her, when I was reminded that God is good and does good. It’s hard to remember that goodness when it’s hard to pay the bills or when your friend loses a baby or when you hear the labored wheezing of your aunt. Sometimes it feels like there’s not much of anything good happening in life.

As I write this, I have read that the pilot whose plane went down in Iran said, “God is good” in his mayday. 

Is God good in the emergency room?

Is God good behind enemy lines?

This is a crisis of belief, isn’t it? We might say we believe in God, but do we believe he is good and does good, not just randomly but as a matter of consistent, dependent character? 

I was sitting in the ER being thankful for God’s goodness, because I have friends in Uganda, and I know what their hospitals are like. I could feel the American wealth, in the comfort of the waiting room, the high-tech equipment, and the army of well-trained professionals who flowed in to care for our aunt. The heated blankets. The coffee shop just down the hall. The caring effort of the PA to get Joan admitted to an already very full hospital. The cheerful attitude of our patient who is known for singing hymns of worship around the house. The goodness was overflowing.

I’m doing laundry today, and I just finished cleaning the kitchen. These chores matter in our home, but today I think that my belief in God’s goodness matters more than all of the house chores combined. I need to rest in his goodness and speak of it and hope for it even in the middle of suffering. My family needs my firm faith more than they need clean forks and neatly folded socks. As I work around the house today, I will pray God’s goodness for our home and trust him for it. 

Tov.

God is good and does good.