John Piper on "Where Was God In All the Goodness of 2012?"

Pastor John Piper has a short but excellent piece entitled "Where Was God In All the Goodness of 2012?"  It is usual and understandable to ask about God in times of crisis and pain but we do not reflect enough on "the problem of peace and pleasure."  Here a few of Pastor Piper's thoughts:

How can God be a God of justice, yet allow so much good to happen to people who dishonor him by disbelieving in him, or giving lip service to his existence, or paying no more attention to him than the carpet in their den, or rejecting the kingship of his Son, or scorning his word, or preferring a hundred pleasures before him?

How can God be righteous and do so much good to us who are so unrighteous?

Where was God in 2012?

• Where was God when nine million planes landed safely in the United States?
• Where was God when the world revolved around the sun so accurately that it achieved the Winter solstice perfectly at 5:12 AM December 21 and headed back toward Spring?
• Where was God when the President was not shot at a thousand public appearances?
• Where was God when American farms produced ten million bushels of corn, and 2.8 million bushels of soybeans — enough food to sell $100 billions worth to other nations?
• Where was God when no terrorist plot brought down a single American building or plane or industry?
• Where was God when the sun maintained its heat and its gravitational pull precisely enough that we were not incinerated or frozen?
• Where was God when three hundred million Americans drank water in homes and restaurants without getting sick?
• Where was God when no new plague swept away a third of our race?
• Where was God when Americans drove three trillion accident free miles?
• Where was God when over three million healthy babies were born in America?

 Pastor Piper's examples can easily be multiplied and this renders our need for thankfulness even more crucial.  Be sure to read the full post by Pastor Piper and see some of the biblical data in response to the question, "Where was God in all the goodness of 2012?"