And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.

Romans 8:28

Paul’s assurance in his letter to the Romans is one of the most quoted and least understood passages in the New Testament. When some people hear the verse, they flare up in anger because they think Paul is saying that the traumatic event they’ve just experienced is good. But that’s not at all what he is saying.

Paul is inviting us to remember- in every situation, even the most painful ones- the final result of our live’s tapestry. We should remember that the God of love, wisdom, and strength has the ability to weave the dark threads of our lives with the light-colored ones to produce something beautiful. In our pain, all we can see is the back of the fabric, but we can be assured that God will produce something fine out of it.

Although God promises to work things for our good, the promise of the verse isn’t that things will work out the way we want them to. God is the weaver, and events are the threads. Our lives are just the loom in which He works to create His masterpiece. In many cases, we find that God’s design is quite different from what we hoped, dreamed, or even contemplated. We can either follow the design He has planned, or we can continue to demand our way. One leads to life and peace, the other to anger and despair. Choose wisely, with faith in God and His design.

Mankind is all too often inclined to take credit for his accomplishments, but when things go wrong, he blames God.

Zig Ziglar

God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken. When you cannot trace His hand, you can trust His heart.

Charles Spurgeon

Far too often we view life and the promises of God with a finite view, that is in view of this life and this world. We forget that God is an eternal being and we who are His children are eternal beings. When God makes promises, He does so from an eternal

view that takes into consideration the life and world to come. In fact God has never promised that this life would always be filled with only good things. I often wonder if in His wisdom whether God allows us to struggle so we won’t remain content with this world and life. I wonder if the promise of heaven and the life to come would be attractive without the pain and discomfort of this life.

When we read such promises as Romans 8:28, we must keep in mind that it is given with our whole life in mind and not just a single event.

There are those who perceive the Christian life as a life without trial but that is not the teaching of the Bible. As a matter of fact, Christ taught that there will be those occasions in which we will face adversity.

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]”

John 16:33

When Jesus offers us peace, it is not peace that comes in the absence of turmoil, but peace beyond human understanding in the very midst of the storm. When He offers us joy, it is not because we are happy at the way things are going. It is joy that we are His children, that He is with us and that nothing can separate us from His love.

What God wants us to know is that the value of being a Christian is not that we are exempt from the same things that non-Christians suffer but that we have help and hope. For Christians life does not end with death. In truth our death is the beginning for us.

In the parable of the two houses being built, it’s important to remember that both went through a storm. In each case the wind blew and the rain battered the house. That’s us. Everybody goes through tough times whether they are Christians or not. Whether they weather the storm without giving up in despair, anger, or defeat is not determined by the size of the storm but by the foundation upon which they have built their lives. Those who dig deep into the Word of God, who anchor their soul to the Rock-Christ Jesus, who face the storm not in their own strength, but by standing under the shadow of the Almighty will find themselves on the other side of the storm still standing. Those who choose to build their lives, dreams, and hopes on the shifting sand of this world may find that all they put their trust in has fallen away leaving them sitting on the rubbish heap of life.

If we can remember that the love of God is immeasurable, far beyond the capacity of humanity, that in His mercy He withholds judgement, and through His grace He offers hope, we can only then comprehend to a small degree the promise of Romans 8:28.

That verse doesn’t say that we will only experience good things nor does it say that God will put suffering upon us. What it says is that when life happens, whether good things or bad things, if we come to God with everything, He will use every experience in the light of eternity for our benefit. Like the mighty trees, every storm as it bends us also produces greater strength and God works all things together for our good.

The qualifiers of Romans 8:28 is that it is for those “who love God.” So my question and yours is, do I love God? And it’s really that simple. The other qualifier is “those who are called according to His plan and purpose.” This is not the same thought as we often hear, “everything in life has a purpose.” The plan and purpose that Paul is speaking of is the plan and purpose of God to redeem us from our sins. So it is that the plan of God to save us because He loves us and our response to the love with our love for God provides the opportunity for every event in our lives to work toward a deeper relationship with God. In our triumphs, we can marvel at His power. In our sufferings we can be engulfed with His comfort. In either we have the opportunity to know Him better, in a deeper way, and with a greater revelation of all He is. In this we can truly say, “all things work together for our good.”

Whatever you are going through, whether a time of blessing or a time of struggle, let the events of life move you closer to God. One day we will all look back on this life and see that tapestry that God wove and marvel how He took everything we experienced and made something beautiful. May God give us grace to believe this until we see.

Dr. John Thompson