Romans 8:28 - All Things Work Together For Good.
Romans 8:28 - All Things Work Together For Good.
Romans 8:28 (NIV) And we know that in all things God works for
the good of those who love him, who have been called according to
his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (CWR) We know that God will make all things work out
for our eventual good, as long as we trust Him and remain true to
the purpose for which He called us.
CONTEXT
Romans 8:18-30: From Suffering to Glory. [Remnant SOP SB]
Romans 8:18-30: Present Suffering and Future Glory. [NIV SB]
COMMENTARY
If you're alive, you have problems. You will continue to face
tough times of one kind or another. Christians are not exempt from
hardship. So where is God in the tough times? Can he really be trusted
when things turn bad?
In those difficult times, you may feel set aside by God,
unloved, forgotten. But that's not possible. You see, the Bible tells us
that God is always at work behind the scenes of our lives, fulfilling
his purposes and using "all things," even hard times, to mature and
shape our faith. This does not mean that all that happens to us is
good. Evil is prevalent in our fallen world, but God is able to turn
every circumstance around for our long-range good. This promise is not
for everybody; it can be claimed only by those who love God and are
called according to his purpose.
As a believer, you are one of those "called" people. As such,
you can trust that no matter how big your problems are, God will
work them together for good. He will redeem trouble. Nothing -
nothing!--can separate you from God's love. Whether you live or die, you
cannot be separated from him. [The One Year Bible for New Believers re
Rom. 8:28-31, 38-39]
Rock climbers are a unique group of people. Some of them are
extremely adventurous and like to climb without the aid of a rope. Others
are a little more cautious and climb with the security a rope
provides. This added confidence helps them scale the most difficult
surfaces, even those that jut out and require them to hang over empty
space.
In many ways, going through tough times is like climbing a
sheer rock face. Trying to get through these times without God is like
climbing without a rope. In this reading, Paul makes Christians aware of
the "rope" that God extends to all his followers. That rope is God's
promise to never let anything separate us from his love. As you read,
take hope in God's rope.
Read Romans 6-8.
Like Paul, we face hardships in many areas of life. We may be
unemployed or working under strenuous conditions. Some may be punished for
doing right. Others may be going through a debilitating illness or
even facing death. These experiences, or the idea of having to face
them, often cause us to fear that God has abandoned us or no longer
loves us. But the truth is that nothing can separate us from Christ's
love. The fact that he died for us proves it, and this promise reminds
us.
When you experience doubt about God's constant love for you,
remember Paul's experience. Then reread and meditate on Romans 8:31-39.
If it will help you, try memorizing verse 38: "Nothing can ever
separate us from God's love." Do not think that your troubles somehow
mean the end of his love. You can always feel totally secure that he
loves you and will be with you. [The One Year Through the Bible
Devotional by Dave Veerman re vv. 28-33]
God's Still Small Voice
A woman who had made rapid progress in her understanding of
the Lord was once asked the secret of her seemingly easy growth. Her
brief response was, "Mind the checks. "
The reason many of us do not know and understand God better
is that we do not heed His gentle "checks"--His delicate restraints
and constraints. His voice is "a gentle whisper." A whisper can
hardly be heard, so it must be felt as a faint and steady pressure upon
the heart and mind, like the touch of a morning breeze calmly moving
across the soul. And when it is heeded, it quietly grows clearer in the
inner ear of the heart.
God's voice is directed to the ear of love, and true love is
intent upon hearing even the faintest whisper. Yet there comes a time
when His love ceases to speak, when we do not respond to or believe
His message. "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and if you want to know Him
and His voice, you must continually listen to His gentle touches.
So when you are about to say something in conversation with
others, and you sense a gentle restraint from His quiet whisper, heed
the restraint and refrain from speaking. And when you are about to
pursue some course of action that seems perfectly clear and right, yet
you sense in your spirit another path being suggested with the force
of quiet conviction, heed that conviction. Follow the alternate
course, even if the change of plans appears to be absolute folly from
the perspective of human wisdom.
Also learn to wait on God until He unfolds His will before
you. Allow Him to develop all the plans of your heart and mind, and
then let Him accomplish them. Do not possess any wisdom of your own,
for often His performance will appear to contradict the plan He gave
you. God will seem to work against Himself, so simply listen, obey,
and trust Him, even when it appears to be the greatest absurdity to
do so. Ultimately, "we know that in all things God works for the
good of those who love him" (Rom. 8:28), but many times, in the
initial stages of the performance of His plans: In His own world He is
content to play a losing game.
Therefore if you desire to know God's voice, never consider
the final outcome or the possible results. Obey Him even when He
asks you to move while you still see only darkness, for He Himself
will be a glorious light within you. Then there will quickly spring
up within your heart a knowledge of God and a fellowship with Him,
which will be overpowering enough in themselves to hold you and Him
together, even in the most severe tests and under the strongest pressures
of life. from Way of Faith [Streams In The Desert By Cowman]
God Speaks through His Activity
Christians habitually seek God's voice through prayer,
through His word, or through His messengers. Yet sometimes we fail to
hear God speak through His activity, even though He is working all
around us. Unbelievers see God's activity without understanding what
they see. God encourages His people to watch for His activity so they
will know how they should respond and adjust their lives.
The disciples discovered much about God's power by witnessing
Jesus calming a raging storm with a command. Seeing Jesus dine with
the notorious sinner, Zacchaeus, taught them a poignant message
about God's love for sinners. Watching Jesus hang upon the cross
communicated a compelling message of what God was willing to do to free
people from sin. Discovering the empty tomb revealed an astounding
truth of God's victory over death. To those with spiritual
discernment, God's activity is a significant revelation about His heart and
His will.
If you are sensitive to what God is doing around you, He will
clearly speak to you through His activity. You will know that God is at
work, because what you see will astound you, and human power and
wisdom will not explain it. If things happen that are direct answers to
your prayers, God is speaking to you. When you experience events that
surpass your understanding and ability, it may be that God is
communicating a critical message to you.
If you want to hear God's voice, look around you to see what
He is doing. When you are watching for God at work, what you see
will reveal His character, and you will have a fresh understanding of
how to respond to Him. [Experiencing God Day by Day by Henry and
Richard Blackaby re Hab. 1:5 and Providence]
God and Circumstances 1
The circumstances of a saint's life are ordained of God. In
the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His
providence brings you into circumstances that you cannot understand at all,
but the Spirit of God understands. God is bringing you into places
and among people and into conditions in order that the intercession
of the Spirit in you may take a particular line. Never put your
hand in front of the circumstances and say--'I am going to be my own
providence here; I must watch this, and guard that.' All your circumstances
are in the hand of God, therefore never think it strange concerning
the circumstances you are in. Your part in intercessory prayer is
not to enter into the agony of intercession, but to utilize the
commonsense circumstances God puts you in, and the commonsense people He
puts you amongst by His providence, to bring them before God's throne
and give the Spirit in you a chance to intercede for them: In this
way God is going to sweep the whole world with His saints.
Am I making the Holy Spirit's work difficult by being
indefinite, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of
intercession, and the human side is the circumstances I am in and the people I
am in contact with. I have to keep my conscious life as a shrine of
the Holy Ghost, then as I bring the different ones before God, the
Holy Spirit makes intercession for them.
Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions
can never be yours, but the Holy Ghost makes intercession in our
particular lives, without which intercession someone will be impoverished.
[My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers]
God and Circumstances 2
It is only the loyal soul who believes that God engineers
circumstances. We take such liberties with our circumstances, we do not believe
God engineers them, although we say we do; we treat the things that
happen as if they were engineered by men. To be faithful in every
circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, and that is to our Lord.
Suddenly God breaks up a particular set of circumstances, and the
realization comes that we have been disloyal to Him by not recognizing that
He had organized them. We never saw what He was after, and that
particular thing will never be repeated all the days of our life. The test
of loyalty always comes just there. If we learn to worship God in
the trying circumstances, He will alter them in two seconds when He
chooses.
Loyalty to Jesus Christ is the thing that we 'stick at'
today. We will be loyal to work, to service, to anything, but do not
ask us to be loyal to Jesus Christ. Many Christians are intensely
impatient of talking about loyalty to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more
emphatically by Christian workers than by the world. God is made a machine
for blessing men, and Jesus Christ is made a Worker among workers.
The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so
loyal to Him that He can do His work through us--'I reckon on you for
extreme service, with no complaining on your part and no explanation on
Mine.' God wants to use us as He used His own Son. [My Utmost for His
Highest by Oswald Chambers]
LIVING EXAMPLES
Ice glazed the road on January 18, 1979, as we drove home
from a birthday party for our five-year-old son. I heard my husband
shout, "Look out!" and looked up just in time to see headlights looming
out of the darkness in our lane. Time slowed as I realized that I
could face eternity that night - an eternity of regret. I'd grown up
in church but had never accepted Christ as my Savior, and I knew
what death without him meant. I don't remember the next instant, but
when I became aware again, the horn blared into the night as tiny
pellets of ice struck us through the broken T-Top in our car. We were
all alive.
Moments later a car stopped to help us, and the passengers
were Christians. They rode to the hospital with our three-year-old
daughter, who had suffered a broken jaw. Their church brought in food for
two weeks after we got out of the hospital. We witnessed
Christ-with-skin-on through those wonderful people.
At the time we couldn't see anything good in the accident,
which had killed a teenager in the other car. But within a year after
the accident, ten people - including my husband and me - had been
saved as a direct result of that event. It was an illustration of
Romans 8:28 in my life. God truly worked all things together for my
good. When bad times come, I know he holds me close and that he'll
turn those times around for good in some way.
Colleen Coble is the best-selling author of thirty books,
including two Women of Faith titles, Alaska Twilight and Midnight Sea.
[The One Year Bible Live Verse Devotional]
I was born into a family of heavy drinkers. It wasn't until
later in life that I learned my father had killed two or possibly
three people. He went to jail, and my mother turned to other men for a
source of income in her failed efforts to care for me and my sister.
She regularly left the two of us, both under eight, to fend for
ourselves for days at a time. By God's grace, we survived.
We were eventually placed in foster care with a Christian
couple. That's where I learned about - but chose not to accept - the
gift of God's grace. Hate for my birth parents still darkened my
heart, and at age fifteen, I became a drinker and a drug user. I went
to jail a couple of times, and I was consumed with thoughts of how
messed up my life was. I finally surrendered to Christ and began
reading the Bible. When I read Romans 8:28, I was stunned by its truth.
I am now a minister on the verge of starting a church, and I
continue to see how God is causing all things to work together for good.
Looking back, I see how my early days, my foster parents, my brokenness,
and God's healing have given me an opportunity to love all people -
from my own precious family to the least of my brothers and sisters -
in the same way that God loved me through all of my pain.
Calvin Jenkins, an associate pastor, is blessed with a strong
marriage and three wonderful children - a son and twin daughters, [The
One Year Bible Live Verse Devotional]
Years ago, when our pastor's family was in an accident that
left the wife seriously injured, their daughter asked her mom if the
words of Romans 8:28 were still true. When Sarah's mom said yes, Sarah
never again questioned why her mother had been so badly hurt.
In January 1998 I had a car accident. I spent a week in the
hospital and then a month in a wheelchair. That's where God really got my
attention. There was a time early in my long recovery when I questioned
God, but then I remembered Sarah. If that young girl could accept his
Word as true, I could too. I stopped whining and started listening to
what God had to teach me.
I learned humility in relying on others to meet my basic
needs. I learned understanding and patience as I faced struggles that
turned everyday tasks into major accomplishments. I learned enough to
look back on those days of pain and realize how much God's hand was
on me. Now when something "bad" happens in our family, I
confidently claim that Romans 8:28 is still - and always will be - true.
Angie Garrett is a writer, proud mom, graphic designer, and
speaker. [The One Year Bible Live Verse Devotional]
Study the history of Joseph and of Daniel. The Lord did not
prevent the plottings of men who sought to do them harm; but He caused
all these devices to work for good to His servants who amidst trial
and conflict preserved their faith and loyalty. {MH 487}
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY:
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2000/20001129-0000.html
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2001/20010920-0000.html
EXCELLENT VIDEO SERIES ON EXPERIENCING GOD:
http://sda.biggytv.com/watch/Revive!_-_Dwight_Nelson:_Experiencing_Gods_Grace/revive/
EXCELLENT BIBLE PROPHECY SERIES BY DR RON CLOUZET [in progress]:
http://www.propheciesdecoded.com/
GREAT SITE FOR CHRIST CENTERED BIBLE STUDIES:
Lifting Up Jesus: http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
