All things work together for good
Since I was a teenager, Romans 8:28 has been one of my favorite verses:
For we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, and are called according to His purpose.
Earlier in life, the verse seemed more simple and more predictable.
The Lord would open and close doors to lead you to the college, to the career that He had for you. If there was a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, it was easy to believe that those things happened because the Lord had someone better in mind for the future.
But, as life becomes more complicated, the verse becomes deeper and more thought provoking.
I DO believe that God causes all things to work together for good. But as I sit in Bible Studies and in the homes of family and friends, the answers aren't always so easy to see and understand.
How does that verse apply to our 24 year old friend with stage 4 sarcoma cancer, and for his parents; for my brother-in-law with ALS disease; or for our friends' son recently hit by a grenade in Iraq? How does that verse apply to the shootings in schools over the nation where innocent children have suffered and died or in the trauma of 9/11? The list goes on and on in all of our personal lives and acquaintances.
We know that we see in a mirror dimly, and that in time~in hindsight~we can begin to grasp and see "the good" that happens. We understand, as Corrie ten Boom said, that we see the underside of the tapestry...the jumble of colors and loose strands of threads...and that God sees the finished artwork from above.
Perhaps we need to rethink what "good" is. Perhaps "good" does not mean that everything will work out just the way we want. Perhaps "good" means that we will become more like Jesus...humble, compassionate, gracious, forgiving. Perhaps "good" means that because of what happens, others will come to know the love of God.
To quote Larry Nikkel, president of Tabor College, " I am not clear about whether everything happens for a reason. I am more clear that we have an obligation to learn from every experience that comes our way. When we open ourselves to learning from all circumstances of life, realizing that God is with us and cares deeply for us, we can live confidently...even joyfully."
And perhaps we need to contemplate our life in the perspective of eternity...that our lives here on earth are
"a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away". (James 4:14)
As we struggle to understand, to make sense of the struggles around us, may we fall back on what we do understand...that God loves us with an everlasting love, and that He will never leave us or forsake us.
And that He IS working "good" in our lives.
And then we can be like Joseph, who after a life of having been mistreated by his brothers, sold into slavery, being forced to live in a country far away from family and friends, he then rose up to be a leader who saved his native country and family from starvation. He was then able to say to his brothers: "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20
We need to remember that understanding comes easier with a "wide angle lens"...seeing the whole picture as God does.
For we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, and are called according to His purpose.
Earlier in life, the verse seemed more simple and more predictable.
The Lord would open and close doors to lead you to the college, to the career that He had for you. If there was a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, it was easy to believe that those things happened because the Lord had someone better in mind for the future.
But, as life becomes more complicated, the verse becomes deeper and more thought provoking.
I DO believe that God causes all things to work together for good. But as I sit in Bible Studies and in the homes of family and friends, the answers aren't always so easy to see and understand.
How does that verse apply to our 24 year old friend with stage 4 sarcoma cancer, and for his parents; for my brother-in-law with ALS disease; or for our friends' son recently hit by a grenade in Iraq? How does that verse apply to the shootings in schools over the nation where innocent children have suffered and died or in the trauma of 9/11? The list goes on and on in all of our personal lives and acquaintances.
We know that we see in a mirror dimly, and that in time~in hindsight~we can begin to grasp and see "the good" that happens. We understand, as Corrie ten Boom said, that we see the underside of the tapestry...the jumble of colors and loose strands of threads...and that God sees the finished artwork from above.
Perhaps we need to rethink what "good" is. Perhaps "good" does not mean that everything will work out just the way we want. Perhaps "good" means that we will become more like Jesus...humble, compassionate, gracious, forgiving. Perhaps "good" means that because of what happens, others will come to know the love of God.
To quote Larry Nikkel, president of Tabor College, " I am not clear about whether everything happens for a reason. I am more clear that we have an obligation to learn from every experience that comes our way. When we open ourselves to learning from all circumstances of life, realizing that God is with us and cares deeply for us, we can live confidently...even joyfully."
And perhaps we need to contemplate our life in the perspective of eternity...that our lives here on earth are
"a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away". (James 4:14)
As we struggle to understand, to make sense of the struggles around us, may we fall back on what we do understand...that God loves us with an everlasting love, and that He will never leave us or forsake us.
And that He IS working "good" in our lives.
And then we can be like Joseph, who after a life of having been mistreated by his brothers, sold into slavery, being forced to live in a country far away from family and friends, he then rose up to be a leader who saved his native country and family from starvation. He was then able to say to his brothers: "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20
We need to remember that understanding comes easier with a "wide angle lens"...seeing the whole picture as God does.
posted by weso at 4:47 PM
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