God works all things for good
And we know that in all things God works for thegood of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he
also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might
be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also
called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also
glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us,
who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for
us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Romans ch8 vs28-32.
What a tremendous portion of scripture this is and it is also one of the
most quoted pieces of scripture especially the first part of verse 28 "And
we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,"I
have heard this part of verse 28 quoted often, normally when something has
happened that we do not understand but seldom when quoted is the latter half
of verse 28 and all of verse 29 mentioned I would like to share with you how
God showed me the importance of reading these two verses together.
About six or seven years ago a friend of mine "Ian Medlock" broke his leg
while playing soccer.Ian runs a boys soccer club in the church hall, where
many of the boys that live round about the area can come along and have a
game I also went along to give Ian a hand. One Friday during the summer we
decided to go to a park near the church to have our game as the weather was
good and there was more room at the park to play soccer,both Ian and myself
decided we would also have a game along with the boys so we started to play.
We were not playing long when tragedy struck, while stretching for the ball
Ian's foot caught in a small hole in the ground and his full weight was
transferred onto his leg ,the result was horrific and I actually heard the
crack as Ian's leg broke in two places he had broken both his fibia and his
tibia.As one of the boys ran to phone for an ambulance all I could do was
pray for Ian who by this time was squirming on the ground in tremendous
agony.To cut a long story short he was taken to hospital and his leg was
plastered right up to the hip and he was to remain in plaster for 12 to 16
weeks.
Needless to say one of Ian's first thought's was "WHY" why had this happened
to him when he was trying to help the boys and give them somewhere to go and
something to do other than hanging round the streets getting into trouble
"WHY".During the course of the next few days I continued to pray for Ian and
I asked The Lord to give me a word for Ian that would help to encourage
him,while praying one day the Lord gave me Romans ch8 verse 28"And we know
that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,"right away
I thought "no" Lord I cannot give him this everyone will be quoting him this
piece of scripture then the Lord said to me read all of verse 28 and verse
29.
As I read verse 29 . "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brothers." I suddenly seen that everything that happens to us as
Christians whether a serious thing like Ian breaking his leg, to the most
trivial thing like waiting for a bus that is taking too long to come God can
use if we allow Him, to transform us into the likeness of Jesus. It might
sound strange but what happens to us is not as important as how we react to
the situations we find ourselves in.God nor Satan caused Ian to break his
leg it was pure and simply an accident but if Ian allowed it God could use
what had happened to change Ian and in some way to make him more like Jesus.
Every situation we find ourselves in in our lives God can use for our good
if we allow Him ,He does not cause the situations but He wants to use them
to draw us closer to Himself and transform us into the likeness of Jesus.
To have shared only the first part of verse 28 with Ian would have left him
still confused as to how could this be working for good"a broken leg" but as
I visited him and shared with him both verse 28 and 29 and what the Lord had
showed me he also seen that his reaction to what had happened was very
important, it did not answer all of his questions but he testifies himself
that it was a turning point in his recovery and it enabled him to accept
what had happened and rather than lie back and grow bitter with God over
"WHY"he was able to see that God could use it to bring something positive in
his life.
Perhaps today something has happened in your life that you are struggling to
see the point of and you are asking WHY,please remember that as Christians
we are not immune to all the pitfalls of this life accidents still happen to
us, our cars still break down,our children still get themselves into trouble
and mess up their lives,we still lose our jobs in-fact any of the things
that can happen to people who are not Christians can happen to us ,in this
respect we are no different. Often when these adverse things come unbidden
into our lives we can grow bitter towards God and other people but God wants
us to see His hand in every situation not causing it but using it to bring
us closer to Him and to be transforming us slowly perhaps but surely into
the image of His dear Son Jesus.This is God's word of encouragement to you
today.