Always Good?

What God ordains is always good.
His will abideth holy. (TLH 521)

The will of God is always best
and shall be done forever. (TLH 517)

It is part of our sinful nature that we get angry when people sin against us. It is sinful to hold grudges, or to become bitter, or to despair over our mistreatment.

So it is true that we respond sinfully when we are sinned against. And it is true that God will work for good in the situation, even when sin is committed against us. But that doesn't mean we can say the sin itself is good.

The ultimate example of this is the cross. It was not good that Judas betrayed his lord. It was not good that Peter denied his Savior. It was not good that the Sanhedrin delivered up Jesus to death. But it was good. The sin was not good, but what God accomplished was good.

When we struggle with our sinful response to those who sin against us, it isn't exactly helpful to be told that the sin is actually good. If, instead, the sin is recognized as sin, it's easier to forgive and to love and to endure in spite of the sin, even giving thanks for the good that God is accomplishing through the difficulties. But when the sin is called "good," it just really messes with your mind. Sometimes it seems like Job's friends have been reincarnated. When something is a mixed bag of good and bad, do we really have to claim that the bad doesn't exist just to extol the good that is there too?