[Avodah] The good and the bad

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

Mishnah Megillah 4:9 teaches us: "One who says 'Your Name will be
remembered for the good [that You do]' ... he is silenced."

This is explained in the Gemara Megilla 25a, at the top: "It implies
that [we thank Him] for the good but not for the bad, but that
contradicts the Mishna that says that a person must bless for the bad
just like he blesses for the good."

That other Mishna (in Brachos) teaches us that we are obligated to say
one bracha or the other, depending on the events at hand. If one
experiences some of God's goodness, he must thank Him for it. On
*other* occasions Hashem does things that are painful, but that is
irrelevant: Here and now one must thank Him for the good.

Thus there is no contradiction between the two mishnayos, as they are
talking about two different situations: If one has actually
experienced something, then he must bless God for the good *OR* for
the bad, whichever applies to the experience. There is no need to be
inclusive, to mention that He is responsible for both. But when one
speaks in the abstract, about what God does in general, that is when
he must mention both the good and the bad. Or perhaps he can speak in
generalities, but he must be careful not to suggest that God does
*only* good things, to the exclusion of painful things: "One who says
'Your Name will be remembered for the good [that You do]' ... he is
silenced."

So my chavrusa and I took out our siddur, to see if this is actually
followed. The first page we turned to was Modim, in the Amidah. It
turns out that Modim - especially the chasima of the bracha - is
mostly about the idea idea that God *IS* good, not so much about that
He *does* good. The things He does is described mostly in terms of the
life He gives us, and the miracles that He does. (It is true that at
one point it we thank Him for "tovosecha" - Your good things - but
that is secondary, coming after "niflaosecha".)

But then we turned to the fourth bracha of Birkas Hamazon, usually
referred to as "Hatov v'haMaytiv" - "the One who is good, and does
good" - from the central words. And then it continues: "Hu haytiv, hu
maytiv, hu yaytiv lanu" - "He has done good, He does do good, and He
will do good to us." And it closes with: "He will never deprive us of
anything good."

Where is the bad?

In what way is this bracha not a violation of this mishna in Megilla?
I concede that we've left out the Mishna's word "yizacher", but I
don't think that is relevant. It appears to go directly against what
the Gemara Megilla wrote, "It implies that [we thank Him] for the good
but not for the bad." Is there any way to reconcile this gemara with
this bracha?

Akiva Miller