What do I know of the Lord's goodness?

I found myself in the interesting position, not too long ago, of bolstering the faith of an earnest young Muslim whom I admire. His faith had been questioned by a high school science teacher. The initial question was about why violence and suffering are in the world, but as communication progressed, it became clear that the REAL question was whether there is a God, and whether you can trust Him despite all the overwhelming evidence that skeptics dig up to shake our faith. After some thought, and bearing in mind that the Lord is perfectly capable of sorting out religious differences and the state of our hearts, I sent him the following:

Why do I know there is a God, and that He cares about me and everybody else? For one thing, nature is beautiful, not only is it beautiful, but the beauty is integral to function. If everything happened by chance, good and fine, but did it have to be beautiful--from rainbows, sunsets, snowflakes and the piercing beauty of the stars, from the tears that come to my eyes when I see the Grand Canyon, from the fragrance and variety and loveliness of flowers and the peace that comes into my heart when I climb to mountain meadows--why is it beautiful? Surely nature could function without beauty--certainly man has made a lot of functional items that aren't beautiful.

Another reason is that evil has not triumphed over good. So many horrible things happen in the world. Tragedy, disaster, agony, destruction, war, disease, filth--and yet there are always people who try to do good. In the face of overwhelming evil or just creeping apathy, you can still find Victor Frankl's, Mother Teresa's, Albert Schweitzer's, J. R. R. Tolkein's, and many, many lesser unknown people who make the world a better place. One would think that evil would have destroyed them and everything good long ago--evil has certainly tried!


On a more personal level, I know God exists and cares because I have felt that love. Looking back, I know that during some extremely rough spots in my childhood, I was not alone--I was being watched over. The rough spots weren't taken away--for what purpose I don't know (perhaps I developed compassion, courage, and strength I would not have otherwise had)--but I wasn't left to suffer alone. This is not something I can prove, but I know it nevertheless. That's a big one, but too often to count I have had smaller evidences that someone is watching over me with deep understanding and caring. I have had prayers answered about how to deal with my children, how to resolve arguments, small exquisitely timed "coincidences" have given benefits out of proportion to the actual event. I have received insights into health problems, and life changing events have happened in response to prayer. One small example (I have more, but this will do) of the type of thing I am talking about is a morning when I was, as usual, rushing around, harried and irritable, trying to get things done and I couldn't find my glasses. I was unkind to my then middle-school aged daughter and sent her to school on foot (late) and with anger. Within 2 minutes of her leaving, I found my glasses UNDER the dining room table. I got in the car (now that I could see to drive) and found Julie, picked her up and drove her to school. When she saw me, she just smiled a big sunshine-filled smile and told me with total satisfaction, "I prayed for you. I knew you would find your glasses". Not only did I find my glasses, but I learned (again) the worth of prayer, I learned (again) that God really does care, I learned how much my daughter loves me and could see past my shortcomings and how sweet she is, and I learned that I could learn a lot from my daughter. God can get a lot of mileage out of finding a pair of glasses!

Another reason I know that God exists and cares is because I know my Grandmother loves me. This is not as straightforward as it sounds, because she died of disease, heartbreak, exposure, and starvation in the aftermath of World War II and left my mother an orphan at 8 years old (and me, obviously, unborn). Yet I have had experiences that not only make it clear to me that this wonderful woman is alive, but that she is joyful, knows me and loves me, and is in God's care. This is not something I can put into words and explain, nor can I prove it by scientifically accepted methods, but the experience is sacred to me and very real.

The final reason I know that God exists is because when I follow His counsel and guidance most closely, I become more than I can without it. The best way to put it into words is to say my soul expands. I reach higher levels of understanding, love, service, and ability, I feel greater joy and peace. I find purpose in my life and the energy and intelligence to accomplish it. One example, out of many, is that I have become an exchange student coordinator--and apparently one (so I'm told) that makes a positive difference in the world. Something that gives me great joy. I also believe this is something that God wants me to do--and I am overjoyed that I can serve God by doing something that is so personally rewarding. You should know that I had really (really) poor social skills most of my life due to the hard experiences in my childhood--so having the ability to connect with people and students is, to me, an unexpected and almost miraculous skill/talent--a gift from God that has expanded my soul and my abilities.

Perhaps there are more reasons, but this seems sufficient to accomplish my purpose--which is to provide an alternative viewpoint to the skeptics and give you, perhaps, a platform from which to find your own answers--although I suspect you already have some.