All things for our good?

Today we want to think about the familiar verse, Romans 8:28.  How many times have we read this verse and enjoyed it?  But perhaps it has also caused us difficulties, especially when we experience circumstances we don’t understand and from which we see no way out.  But that is exactly why the Lord gave us this verse in His Word.  We want to break it into small portions and think briefly about the different parts.  We’ll read Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

• The first part is the “we” at the beginning.  The apostleApostle (Greek) means "sent one." Today, we are "messengers" for Christ when we pass on the gospel (2 Cor. 5:20). But the highest-ranking messenger is Jesus Christ himself (Heb 3:1;... Paul here makes himself one with the believers in Rome to whom the letter was addressed.  He puts himself on an equal level with them and says that everyone has the same privilege.  They could be sure that God had a plan for everything and that He wanted everything to end well.  This is still the same today for every single believer.  Everyone should know that all things work together for our good.

• The second part refers to we “know”.  This “knowing” is in contrast to a vague hope.  We know something that is secure.  It is not a vague hope or an empty phrase that we say.  No, it is the firm promise of God, and God's word is the truth!  We know this. It is not always easy to hold onto it in every situation, but we remember it and gain strength from it.  The Lord wants us to cling tightly to this verse, trusting in Him and His Word, and making it a part of us.  This knowledge draws our eyes to Him and allows us to trust in His ways in every situation of life.

• The third part refers to those "who love God".  Interestingly enough, God's love for us is not spoken of directly here, but rather our love for God.  God's intentions for us are always directed by His love because He always wants to lead us to a good ending.  But here our love for Him is put into the foreground.  We love Him because He first loved us!  (1 John 4:17) This love may be weak, but it is in every heart of a true believer.  The Lord recognizes this love in our hearts and rejoices in it.

• The fourth part is the two words "all things".  It is not always understandable for us that all things are really working together for our good, but it is absolutely true!  There are no coincidences, everything is either willed or at least allowed by God.  When God tested Job and took everything away from him, Job said: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” And a little later: “ Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?"(Job 1:21; 2:10).
  God has His plan, even for things that seem negative to us, such as a car accident, illness, unemployment or the loss of a loved one.  If God says all things, then we can not choose those we like and accept them from God and complain about all others.  It is often not easy for us to accept everything from God, but the deep conviction that all things work together for good allows us to have peace in difficult circumstances.  Then we can rest in the awareness of his love and good intentions for us.
• The fifth part relates to the fact that all things “work together for good”. God is good and does good (Ps 119: 68)!  It is the nature of God to be good and to do good. When the Lord Jesus was walking here on earth, he was "doing good and healing all" (Acts 10:38). In doing so, he revealed God to us.  Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us that his work is perfect - and that's always true!  For us it may be, that we do not always recognize the good in all things, especially in the experiences that are painful for us, and yet it remains true.
  God also uses the apparently bad or painful things in our lives to do us good in the end.  Joseph is a fitting example of this: again and again he was treated unfairly and apparently he found himself in a negative spiral.  But at the end God was able to make this faithful servant the second highest man in all of Egypt.  And Joseph was able to say to his brothers: “But as for you, you meant it evil against me, but God meant it for good.” (Gen. 50:20).

• The sixth part shows us that we are "called according to His purpose”.  We know that the God who has already destined us to eternal blessings and glory will also only do good for us in the present time.  We cannot understand everything, we often do not directly recognize God's good intentions for us, but we can trust in Him, His word and His actions with us in love.  We often do not know how God leads us, but we know that He leads us and that everything worksAnother word for deeds or actions. God's works are perfect (Gen 1:31), men's can be good works (Matt 5:16) or dead (Heb 6:1). On the basis of his works, unbelieving... together for our good! Let’s keep that in our hearts!