Does Everything Work For Good?

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (ESV)  Is Paul, inspired by the Spirit, saying every bad thing that happens to you and me is actually for good?  No, he is saying that from the bigger picture of our life, when we look back on our history, we will be able to see that even the terribly dreadful things that happened God leveraged to bring us to the good end He intended for us.  The operative word that provides us the right perspective is the word together.  Satan no doubt intended it for our demise, but God saw farther down into the future and turned it for our good. 

Joseph is a classic example of this.  When he was 17 years of age (Genesis 37:2), His brothers had jealous hatred towards him and would have killed him except the more ingenious brother had a better idea—sell him as a slave to a traveling trader, pocket the money and tell their father an animal had killed him.  That certainly was not a good thing for Joseph, it was horrendous!  But God saw farther into the future.  Thirteen years later (Genesis 41:46) God leveraged that ugly action into bringing good to both Joseph, his father Jacob as well as the very bothers who had ill-will towards him.  Twenty years after last seeing his brothers he ended up as the second most powerful man in Egypt then said to his brothers,  You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. Genesis 50:20 (NLT2)

In the middle of my senior year in high school, my dad got a notion God wanted us to move to Illinois.  This was very traumatic for me, so much so I could not longer trust him to care about my well-being and therefore carried unforgiveness towards him for decades.  Not a good thing!  Years later the Holy Spirit addressed my unwillingness to forgive by opening my eyes to see that if I would have continued to finish high school where I had lived for 11 years, I very likely would have married the girl I had been dating for several years.  As it was, I ended up marrying the most wonderful woman I know.  God used the mixing bad into my life to bring me the best possible, which has been a blessing everywhere we have served in ministry.   

I have learned from what Jesus said on the cross that people who do what appears evil to you or me do not know what they are doing.  I now see my dad, a God-fearing minister, as well as all of those who had a part of bringing what I felt as pain in my life, did not know what they were doing when they did it.  They thought they did, but they were blind to the bigger picture.  I dread to think of how many times have I hurt someone and did not know what I was doing. So why should I be angry at someone for hurting me when they do not know what they are doing.  I now see it is far better to trust God’s knowledge, love and wisdom than to get upset when something bad happens in my life.  I now see God will use whatever bad it might be, to work TOGETHER with other experiences in my life and good will come out of it.  It may take decades as it did for me, or 13 years as it did for Joseph, but at the end of the day, all is well because of God’s hand working all things together. 

Have you been struggling with something that appears bad in your life?  I suggest you consider trusting more in God’s love for you than in your perspective of your situation.  It is not worth the stress trying to make things happen so you can get what you think is best for you.

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