Don’t Miss the Goodness Talking About the Badness

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
that I would see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.”
— Psalm 27:13

Something is wrong with everything. Creation groans. People disappoint. Bodies break. Life frustrates us all. That much is true.

But here’s the danger: we can talk so much about what’s wrong that we miss what’s right.

Do we overlook daily sunrises because of rainy days?
Years of health because of a season of sickness?
Laughter with family because of bad news headlines?

The world groans nonstop—and we can join the chorus if we choose.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
— Romans 8:22

Yet Scripture offers a better posture:

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
— Romans 12:21

People are imperfect. Places fade. Things break. This broken world was not God’s original design—but it is where we live now. So the question isn’t whether we face badness. The question is what we allow to shape our conversation, our spirit, and our story.

What About Goodness?

A fifty-seven-year-old father is diagnosed with prostate cancer. The facts are heavy—uncertainty, surgery, recovery, fear. He could let bitterness lead the conversation. Why me? Why now?

Or he could choose differently.

Like David—falsely accused, relentlessly attacked—he could seek God’s presence instead of rehearsing the pain (Psalm 27:8–9). David made a deliberate choice:

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
that I would see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.”

That father chose goodness too—not denial, not naïveté, but perspective. He named the gifts:
fifty-seven years of life,
a wife of thirty-three years,
children waiting six hours during surgery,
family traveling miles to be near,
prayers, messages, God’s nearness.

The circumstances didn’t change—but the storyline did.

Going Deeper

If you want to explore David’s choice in Psalm 27, consider these questions:
    1.    Why does David move back and forth between fear and faith, warfare and worship?
    2.    Who are the three audiences David is talking to—and how does each conversation steady him?
    3.    What exactly is the “goodness” David expected to see in the land of the living?