"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."
For roughly the last few months, perhaps longer, I've been seeing this verse pop up a LOT. Whether I was reading a book, a blog, a facebook post, hearing it on the radio, hearing it in a sermon, or having it just pop into my head at random times throughout the week. It's been everywhere.
I couldn't tell you one way or another if God actively intervenes in our lives today. The best way I've been able to answer questions of this nature is to say that He can do anything He wants. I'm sure that there are times He does intervene and then there are other times when certain things can be chalked up to coincidence and/or misinterpretation. I'm inclined to say that the latter is probably far more frequent though. That said, I can't help feeling that in seeing this verse so frequently lately, that perhaps the Lord is trying to catch my attention, to try and help me learn something. Which brings me to Romans 8:28.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him..." Having seen and read this verse numerous times over the past several months, I have been contemplating what it means and what it means to me directly. I'm no theologian or scholar, so please don't jump down my throat if I don't interpret this correctly. ;-)
In the moments when I was struggling the most, I would read this verse and try to interpret it to mean the "good" that I had in mind for myself. My "good" was what I wanted, when I wanted it. My idea of "good" would have been the end of my struggle and to experience the subsequent joy and happiness in finally receiving the desires of my heart. In an attempt to try and make this scenario happen, I would try to change my attitude and think differently (as if God couldn't tell what I was doing...). When my idea of "good" didn't happen, I would fall right back into frustration and anger. For far too long, I outright refused to envision a different "good" because I was too focused on myself and my unmet expectations.
Time has a way of wearing one down though, and soon I went from anger to apathy and apathy to acceptance. In trying to learn to accept and be content with where we're at, I have seen this verse more and more. This in turn has prompted me to really evaluate what Paul is saying when "...we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...".
He works all things for the good of those who love Him. I can tell you (most ashamedly) that through my attempts to orchestrate my "good" and this whole ordeal itself, loving Jesus was very far down the list. I was too in love with myself, too focused on me and my suffering to think about anything else. And sadly, my lack of love for Him was intentional. Because I believed that in choosing to love Him instead of me, I would have to give up what I wanted. And I didn't want to do that. The hurt and the fear of doing that, of potentially facing a undefinable time when I would have to wait for my hopes to come to fruition was terrifying to me. I didn't want to do it.
Things now are different however. I think I've finally come to understand what this "good" is, at least to me. I think by "good", in part, he means a "good" that we can't see in the midst of our struggle. That despite what we're suffering, His end goal will be far better than what we had in mind for ourselves. Which makes sense, obviously, you know, Him being the Creator of the universe and all, and knowing us better than we know ourselves and what would be the ultimate best for us.
I think by "good", he also means that our biggest weaknesses will be highlighted and challenged in the face of difficulties. This of course is a very GOOD thing because it's these weaknesses that prevent us from becoming more like Jesus Christ. They're the things that prove to be the biggest stumbling blocks in our faith. If we're able to see these weaknesses, we're able to eradicate them. If we're able to eradicate them, then we're able to be molded further to the image Jesus Christ. That's why it's a GOOD thing to experience difficult times, because it gives us the opportunity to examine our heart and character and to correct them when necessary. Because the end result of fixing our character will be GOOD because we will be one step closer to being like Jesus Christ.
Difficult experiences are also GOOD because they test our faith. This is why James said in chapter one that we're to consider it a JOY when we face trials because the testing of our faith develops perseverance (Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4). Faith means knowing that whatever the outcome of our experience is, Jesus Christ is still perfect, good, loving, sovereign, Lord above all, and in control. That no matter what life brings, we can remain steadfast because He Who went before us was steadfast. How can this not be to our good? The strengthening of our faith in order to help us withstand greater trials that we will inevitably face in this world. This is truly a GOOD thing.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...". To LOVE Him. In
loving Him, we will be striving to become more like Him. When we
become more like Him, it will of course be to our greatest benefit, to
our good. What could possibly be
better than being further molded to the Savior Who gave His life for us? When
we learn and strive to love Him ABOVE all else, everything else in this world
will fall in comparison. That's not to say that in loving Him, all our
problems will go away. But in loving Him, He will be our biggest comfort in the
midst of those problems, and knowing that in return, He loves US. He is
with us through it all.
In examining my experience to see what I needed to learn, I have come to see that my biggest weakness has been that Jesus has not been the Lord of my life. He has not been the most important Person to me. He has not been the One I sought to glorify. He has not been the one I love most above all. Instead, and for too long, He's been the Person I pray to when I need something, as if He was some magic genie in the sky Whose sole purpose was to grant me my every desire. I would usually only go to Him when I needed something. I have come to realize that this is first and foremost, so deeply and profoundly wrong of me. Jesus Christ is GOD. He is Holy, PERFECT, righteous, gracious, merciful, all powerful, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, loving, and so much more. He created the universe and this world we live in. He created me. For me to trivialize Him to merely a request granter is appalling.
Second, I realized that this needs to change immediately and the only way to do that is for me to let go of the things I want in this world and reestablish Jesus Christ as the head of my life. To love Him above all else, obey, and to glorify Him needs to be the highest desire and goal of my heart and life. It won't be easy, but change rarely is. But it's worth it.
I don't know whether or not God has orchestrated this experience in my life to teach me this lesson or if this is just a case of us living in a fallen world. Perhaps I'll know someday down the road when I'm able to look back with objectivity and perspective that I don't currently have. What I do know is that regardless of how this event occurred, is has been something that God has used in my life to mold me more into His image, to draw me closer to Him and eradicate the things that would work to supplant Him in His rightful role in my life.
This of course all works our in the end for my good.
