Even if we never know....


In light of my conversation with my cousin (in-law) yesterday and an unrelated email I got this morning, I started thinking about Romans 8:28. God promises that, for those who love God, all things work together for good. It's a precious promise and one that should warm the heart of the believer through and through in any and every circumstance. My problem is that I often take that promise and "add" to it without even realizing that I am doing it. In my mind, I often quote the verse as being, "And God causes all things to work together for good to those who loves God and are called according to His purposes...and I will see how they work together for good really soon."

It doesn't say that, though. In fact, nowhere in Scripture does God give us the promise that we will understand and know all the good that God accomplishes through the often painful and difficult circumstances He allows us to go through. Often, He graciously allows us to see some of the fruit and have a front row seat to the masterpiece He is painting...but not always.

J.I. Packer says it this way in "Knowing God" in regards to our desire to know why God is doing what He is doing:

"...we feel that, for the honour of God (and also, though we do not say this, for the sake of our own reputation as spiritual Christians), it is necessary for us to claim that we are, already...here and now enjoying inside information as to the why and wherefore of God's doings. This comforting pretence becomes a part of us: we feel sure that God has enabled us to understand all His ways with us and our circle thus far, and we take it for granted that we shall be able to see at once the reason for anything that may happen to us in the future. And then something very painful and quite inexplicable comes along, and our cheerful illusion of being in God's secret councils is shattered....For the truth is that God in His wisdom, to make and keep us humble and to teach us to walk by faith, has hidden from us almost everything that we should like to know about the providential purposes which He is working out in the churches and in our own lives....As we have seen, it is not a sharing in all of His knowledge, but a disposition to confess that He is wise, and to cleave to Him and live for Him in the light of His Word through thick and thin."

That is the beauty of life and a relationship with God. It's not about always understanding our circumstances...it's about knowing the God who holds those circumstances in His hands. And that makes all the difference in the world!

Comments

Ruth said…
:D
That is one of my favorite verses...and I grew up on it...because my dad quoted it practically everyday of my life growing up!(but without the added part :D )
Anonymous said…
So true! I love those verses as well and have experienced the truth of them in my life and no, I have not seen all the ways that God has worked things out for my good and His glory, but He has been gracious to show me some of it.

Psalm 27:13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!


Lori