"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)

God, who is outside of time, is constantly working for the goodness of us who love Him.  We, on the other hand, generally find it impossible to imagine anything outside of time; much less contemplate how God could work out ALL things for us through all the circumstances of life with absolutely perfect timing.  This isn’t God looking at each circumstance and reacting to them, but rather, reading through this chapter of your Bible, what He had planned for us from the beginning of time.

Oftentimes when we see that verse, we continue the thought through some situation with how difficult things may be in the kitchen we work in or some other aspect of our lives, then wondering how that could possibly be God working all things for good.  Continuing with that, just take a look through the Bible.  Generally, our lives are easy in comparison with David, Job, and all these other people who were at times utterly defeated in many different ways I can hardly contemplate.

So how can any of that be working together for good to those who love God?  David surely loved God, as did Job, but still their lives were full of defeat.  First off, notice that God specifically says that all things are "for good", NOT "for happiness".   So what is the definition of the word "good"?  According to Mark 10:18, Jesus has one definition of the word, which is God Himself.  Notice that it doesn’t necessarily say that God acts good, but rather the definition of goodness is God Himself.  The only way of telling what is good or not is to look at God, as He alone is its definition.  That’s one reason people don’t care about sin, as they define what’s good with whatever they want to.  There are always numbers of biblically sound principles that most people keep, such as not committing murder or adultery, but depending on how far away from God’s principles one gets, the farther away from the truth that person’s definition of what good is.

As Mark 10:18 states, "No one is good but One, that is, God."  Therefore, even what I think of myself as being good sometimes varies from what God thinks of as good.  Not remembering that God knows what’s best for us, we Christians often look at the circumstances and worries of today rather than the big picture God has.  God knows what’s best for us a lot better than we do, so who are we to impatiently question why God doesn’t do things in the timing we think is best for Him to do them in?  That example in itself is a good picture to see where God stands in your life - do you try telling God what’s best for you OR do you let God instruct you through what’s best for you?  Are you open to all the hardships God has in store to mold and shape you into His image, like He did with David and Job, or do you believe the common fallacy that God only wants you to have a nice peaceful life, never having any kind of trials?  God doesn’t expect us to enjoy trials, but He does expect us to endure them by His strength alone so that we know exactly Whom our trust is in (and it’s not in ourselves).

God bless, and I pray God helps open all our eyes as to who the entirety of our lives really belongs to so that His goodness and mercy may flow in and through us.

Ira Krizo
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/about/irakrizo.html

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