Job remained true to God in spite of all that Satan hurled against him in the form of personal loss and suffering. He became a test case as Satan accused God of being unworthy of human devotion and that the only reason humankind served and worshiped God was for the material blessings He bestows. The result of Job’s suffering proved Satan’s accusation was completely unfounded.

As an example of Satan speaking, more familiar to most are his words in the Garden as he was tempting Eve. Scripture says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”‘” (Gen. 3:1). In essence, the devil is asking, “You mean to say that God is not going to let you eat of this beautiful tree in the midst of the Garden? Is God really going to deprive you of the blessing that would come from eating of that tree? If so, then, is God really good?”

You would think that all of us would believe in the goodness of God. James writes telling us that “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above…” (Jas. 1:17). The beautiful sunshine, the health that flows through your body, the strength that enables you to move about…every good gift comes down from above. Aside from such physical blessings there are His spiritual gifts. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (Jn. 3:16). Surely, we have been convinced of the goodness of God! But, in the midst of blessing, there is also adversity. A child is born with a birth defect and you may wonder: “Is God really good?” Some terrible tragedy may strike your family causing you to doubt the goodness of God.

A well-known atheist-turned-Christian writes the following about his son, Tim, who was born in 1962: “He was a happy, healthy baby. My wife and I dreamed that Tim would someday become a gospel preacher like the biblical Timothy. But the fact is, by the time the boy was 18 years of age, he had had congenital cataracts, retardation, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and schizophrenia.” And, then later he wrote about a new problem. Suddenly, the boy was completely blind. But, then, he also writes about how such adversity had drawn the family closer together than ever before. He concludes, “Adversity brings out the best in all of us.”

Is God good? In the process of succumbing to Satan’s temptation, Adam and Eve began to question the goodness of God. If God were good, then why doesn’t He let us eat of this tree? In spite of the troubles and sorrows of this life, God is good. Adversity can serve to strengthen our faith and get us ready for the next life.