WEDNESDAY April 10th
Romans 8:28
‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.’
The phrase ‘all things work together for good’ is an important phrase, and we need to understand what it really is saying. Because the sad and sometimes difficult to understand reality is that there are often and perhaps at times we may think too often, those things that happen in our lives and in our circumstances which we would call anything but good.
It may be a bereavement, sickness or ill health, the loss of a job which may even lead to long term unemployment, a breakdown in a relationship, for these things happen to both the righteous and the unrighteousness. Being a believer does not mean we have suddenly received immunity from the struggles and the difficulties that life on earth throws up.
The difference is that being in Christ, and knowing what it is as we have seen already from this chapter in knowing the Spirits indwelling, as we love God, he will work everything out for our good, he can take the difficult, the hard, that which we consider as bad, and he will knit everything together for good; he will ensure that everything that happens will dove tail together to bring about that which is his purpose for us.
It is always important to compare scripture with other scripture and alongside this verse in Romans 8:28 is the importance of our being conformed to that which is his will and purpose for us, (Romans 12:1-2). God has not made us as if we are robotic and he presses all the buttons and we automatically do that which is in accordance with his will, he has created us with free will, we can choose to seek his will and obey it, or decide to work against it and to do our own thing. It is only when we obey his will and walk in obedience to his will that we can be assured that all things will work together for good.
Here are the other verses from Romans 12 ‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.’
In the words of a hymn by H. Tee:
Thy blessed will divine, with joy I make it mine,
My heart shall be thy throne, and thine alone.
Choose thou the path I tread and whither I am led,
Help me to follow on, O mighty Saviour.