"And God saw the light, that it was good…" [Gen 1:4]
Our God is uncompromisingly positive. It is woven into the very nature of who He is and cannot be changed. The LORD always sees things in the best light, filtering all things through His infinite wisdom and prudence. An example of this is shown to us in Romans, where The Spirit writes,
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” [Rom 8:28-29]
And again,
“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Rom 6:22-23]
The LORD can look at all things in our life and call it good. Because our God is the God who turns the crooked things straight; who brings beauty out of ashes; who makes bitter waters sweet; and who turns the curse into a blessing. Even if a situation is unpleasant or hard, The Lord ensures it works together for good, making us more like Jesus, and making us more holy. Though it may not look good or feel good, Jesus looks upon our life and our circumstances with a positive view, seeing how it will work unto good, and work unto His glory.
Notice in our verse today what God saw on the first day. Though there were yet five days to go, wherein God would do much work, yet The LORD “saw the light, that it was good.” The LORD did not see that which was incomplete; He did not see what still needed to be done; He did not see anything it says, but “the light,” and “that it was good.” You may not enjoy the circumstance you find yourself in; yes, we have all been many times in situations which were unpleasant and hard. What is it that we often find ourselves focusing on? May our focus be as The Lord’s. May we choose to, as He does, focus on the light; to focus on what is good, what is complete; to focus on what Jesus is doing, and not on what hurts or what is bad.
Remember when Jesus said to His disciples, “but now I go my way to Him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.” [Jn 16:5-6] Jesus was about to leave them. He was set to be betrayed, mocked, tortured, crucified, buried, and three days later rise again. The Lord had told the disciples these things; and yet, none of them, upon hearing those things, asked Jesus “whither goest thou?” They were not focused on the end goal of these things. They were not concentrating on the good it would all produce. Instead, they were focusing on the present sadness and the hardship; and, as a result, as Jesus says, “sorrow hath filled your heart.” The greatest event in all of human history; the very climax and center point of all living history, Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, was underway and about to take place. The single, greatest, most awe-inspiring and joy-filling event ever to transpire on earth – and yet, Jesus’ disciples were sorrowful. And why? Because of their focus on the fleshly, worldly things.
Brethren, may we find our focus through the lens of God’s word, which reveals His thoughts to us and shows us how to properly think and interpret data. May we filter all that happens to us through the lens of God’s word and what Jesus is accomplishing. Instead of looking at things like the flesh, let us, as God did and still does, “[see] the light, that it [is] good.”
But let us also take encouragement in that our Heavenly Father does not just see all circumstances allowed into His children’s lives as good, always in their best light, but also the children themselves. For just as God was creating the heavens and the earth, and at each step seeing that it was good, so too in our lives, at each progression God sees what He is doing as good. He is not focusing on all those faults and sins that have yet to be purged, or all those characteristics of Christ and The Spirit that have yet to be matured in us. Rather, His focus as He works out Christ in us, is on those things that have been completed, that He has done, and He calls them good.
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