Here is a great article by Randy Alcorn entitled “God Is Just as Good When He Doesn’t Do What We Want” in Patheos on February 20, 2025.
There is a great phrase many say: “God is good.“ That is certainly true and an appropriate thing to proclaim. However, many of us say it routinely only when life goes our way. “Traffic was easy today, I made all the lights, and I wasn’t late for work or class—God is good!” When we hear that God has healed someone, inevitably someone says, “God is good.“ True enough.
But when God chose not to answer our prayers for my wife Nancy’s healing after 4 1/2 years of almost never missing our evening prayer time, does that mean God was, in our case, not good? Of course not. God is good not only when He does what we want but also when He doesn’t. This is when people who lose their faith are right in losing it because they are losing a faith that is not a true biblical faith.
As long as we hold on to vestiges of prosperity theology (which teaches that God will bless with material abundance and good health those who obey Him and lay claim to His promises), we set ourselves up to lose our faith, and perhaps ultimately to walk away from God. Because if God has to do what we want in order for us to be happy, then He is not our master but our servant.
I believe prosperity theology is from the pit of Hell. It confuses and misleads people about God and what He has and has not promised. When my friend Greg was dying when I was 16 years old and he was 18, I thought I knew beyond any shadow of doubt that God would heal Him. I claimed the reality of that healing, fully expecting it. When he died, I learned the painful lesson that we do not necessarily get our way when we pray.
It doesn’t mean God does not answer prayer; it doesn’t mean that God is not honored by our prayers. It certainly does mean that we need to be careful when we claim Christ has promised things, because when we proclaim false promises, we misrepresent Him, undermine His truths, and distort the reality of how He loves His people.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 
I had a good friend who was dying after breast cancer, that was now in her lungs and elsewhere.. she was sure she was too young to die, hadn’t finished what God had for her to do, and told God He had to heal her. She was convinced the Lord would heal and she would hear of nothing else. Some friends told her God had told them He would heal her. I prayed and God had not told me He would heal her. When I told her that she almost told me to get away from her. She still had 2 children in School, and one who had just finished Yr 10 who was looking after her, and 3 older ones. Only one married. I was concerned for them. No one was allowed to talk about any possibility of her dying. In fact that was enough to have you banished. A lot of friends had left her because of her super spiritual attitude. She had a lot of faith but some was quite inappropriate. I heard her pray once “You gave me these 6 kids Lord, You have to feed them.” Anyway, eventually as she got sicker she searched the scriptures, she came up with the idea that “God is Sovereign” and she had to rest in that, but she still fiercely held with being healed and said even if she died she could be raised from the dead, so she asked for an Open coffin. None of the family ever discussed the possibility of her dying which was very sad especially for the younger children. Of course, she did die. We had remained good friends and took the funeral service where I acknowledged her strong faith which verged on super faith. One daughter who had lived with us for 3 1/2 yrs told me Mum only died because I hadn’t believed she would live! Not true… but because they had an open coffin she was made up to look younger and more attractive than she ever did in true life. She had never worn make-up. They ended up making a sort of a godly hero out of her. Many had had real problems with her in real life. but now they have large family gatherings with grandkids, at her graveside, crying and almost worshipping her. To me this is all so wrong and unhelpful. I believe she was onto something when she found from OT readings that God is Sovereign. He knows best and we must bow to His will. Not that we shouldn’t pray for healing but we cannot tell him what to do!
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