Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8: 28 (NKJV)
Maybe this is a good day for us all to remember the truth of that verse of scripture. Maybe every day. Because the bottom-line is this-with God, we win!
It’s a familiar verse we have looked at before, but in the midst of the challenges and uncertainties of the days which continue to unfold before us, we need to make sure we embrace the truth of that promise. Because our tendency in the midst of difficulties and losses, is to head to the exits and wonder what now.
The Apostle Paul wrote it. The same guy who used to be called Saul and who persecuted followers of Christ. Until his conversion experience, that “blinding light” experience which occurred on the Damascus Road.
After that and then being tapped as a disciple of Christ, we read in various accounts in scripture that Paul’s life was anything but what one might describe with the word “good.” He was beaten, imprisoned, stoned, and whipped, slandered, starved, and shipwrecked along with numerous other things happening to him. Good? None of us would characterize those things as good.
Yet Paul kept sharing words of hope and optimism about what Christ had done-about all the good in Paul’s life and the lives of others. And all that He will do in ours.
Was Paul a lunatic? History doesn’t paint him that way. Zealous? Yes. Sold out? Absolutely. And he was fulfilling God’s purpose for him in some of the worst places, in some of the toughest moments, and in some of the most difficult of circumstances and challenges. His fuel to deal with it all came from the Hope in his friend-the risen Christ.
Notice in the verse Paul says-“we know.” He didn’t say “we think” or “we feel” or “maybe.” He says “we know.” God’s involvement in our lives for good was unquestionable to him, it was an absolute fact. As it is today, for you and for me.
My friends, God promises to work out wonderful things in our lives. With God-we win. It’s not a promise of “happiness” or “success” in all things as we ourselves might want it to be, or as the world describes what that “good” might be. But it is a promise of the fulfillment of the eternal purpose of our lives, in the journey of a life aligned with God. And ultimately, victory is ours with Him.
And notice one more thing Paul says in that verse-“all things.”
Here’s what we know through our own experiences with God, and having learned through the experiences of Paul and others-“we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” In all things with God, we win. In whatever we face and go through-God works it all for good; good in His time, and as He defines it, which has to be a whole lot better than any good you and I can come up with.
In all things, God turns confusion into clarity, doubt into belief, sorrow into joy, our seeming losses into His wins, and despair into eternal Hope.
Believe it, always-today, tonight, tomorrow and every day of our lives.
In His Name–Scott
