Romans 8:28 is another verse we love to take out of context. We humans tend to think in terms of what helps us or furthers us or makes us happy, and these words are used no differently.
We like to think the words say that God will work everything out the way we want them to work out. That’s not quite what it says. And therein lies the problem.
When we seek God for this promise in our lives and expect Him to work things out the way we’re telling Him to, then that doesn’t happen, we are disappointed. We get angry… at God. Some have left the faith over this sort of thing.
The trouble is, we forget that God is God and we are not. We think we know what’s good, even what’s best for us and for others. There are times we go in like gangbusters to solve a problem the way that we think it should be solved, and that’s not at all God’s plan.
We need the reminder, found in Isaiah 55:8-9, that we just don’t think on the same level God does. Nowhere close. We don’t see any situation from start to finish until we’ve reached that finish. God saw the whole thing from beginning to end before He said “Let there be light!”
This also takes us back to the realization that our hearts don’t devise good on their own. The human heart is above all things deceitful and we have to surrender it to God every moment. We can’t rely on our heart definition of good or right or just. We must turn to God for those definitions and for those answers. Every time. Only when we choose to delight ourselves in the Lord will we have hearts with the correct and godly desires we need to walk well with Him.
Here’s the thing, whether we believe this or not, God WILL cause everything to work together for the good of His followers. Whether we like the way things work out, it IS for the good of us as children of God. Whether we agree with God on the outcome or not, His decision is final, just, and right.
Sounds harsh, huh? I guess so, until we recognize that God’s plan for us is beautiful. Until we accept that His way is just right — even if it is fraught with trials and tribulations, pits, mountains, obstacles, and bad players. God will use every trial, every traumatic event, every awesome happening, every toxic person, every thing in our lives to work together for our good and His glory.
That’s another thing this verse doesn’t mean, that we won’t experience problems. We will. Jesus told His followers that as long as they lived, they would have trials and sorrows. Problems, issues, struggles, whatever you call them, we’ll have them while we live in this broken world. And yet, we can trust that through every trial, issue, problem, or struggle, God will walk with us, be for us, love us, and work everything out for our good.
Everything.
Every thing.
For our good.
If you’ve experienced His denial of your version of good and been angry with Him, it’s a great day to realize what happened — it wasn’t that God didn’t love you. It wasn’t that He didn’t hear your plea. It wasn’t that He didn’t know what was good for you. He actually knew what was best for you and He worked everything out to that end. It’s time to change your mind about Him, look at what He saved you from, and return to Him.
Believer, today is the perfect day for you to surrender your version of “good” to God and delight yourself in Him. Trust Him to love you so much that He will work everything together for your good and His glory. He does and He will.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
