What is the Good, God is Working in Romans 8:28?

 You don’t need to be around me long in any setting where a discussion of life and faith is present to know that I quote Romans 8:28 a lot. I don’t like to say I have one favorite scripture—the Bible is just too full of incredible passages to choose only one—but I do believe Romans 8:28 is a truth we must hold onto and turn to almost every day of our lives.

Suffering is a real fact of life. No one escapes life without seasons of trials and storms. Far too many Christians have yet to grasp the theological implications and aspects of suffering. To understand these truths, one must believe the biblical fact that God is sovereign. The Bible teaches repeatedly that everything in our lives—whether good or bad—is completely under the sovereign hand of Almighty God. As R.C. Sproul once said, "There is not one maverick molecule if God is sovereign." The Bible declares that God is sovereign. And that settles it.

Look at Romans 8:28:

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

We should never make Scripture say what it does not say. This verse does not promise that life will be easy or trouble-free. The Bible is clear on that. Jesus stated this truth in John 16:33, saying:

"In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

What a great verse and promise! But also within that promise is the assurance that we will experience tribulation. Romans 8:28 assures us that despite our sufferings—whatever they may be and for whatever reason they happen—God is working them for good.

But for what good? Most of us have been through things, or at least know people who have endured things, that seem to have no apparent good outcome. I could provide many examples, but I think we can all recall times when something happened, and we just couldn’t see its purpose or understand what good could come from it.

So, isolating Romans 8:28 from the rest of Scripture doesn’t give us the full picture. But I have good news—Paul answers that very question in the next verse. Unfortunately, many people spend so much time arguing over doctrine that they miss the answer, which is quite clear once you see it. And this answer explains suffering and why it even exists.

Take a look at Romans 8:29:

"For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren."

If you missed it, let me highlight it for you:

"To become conformed to the image of His Son."

So why does God cause all things to work together for good?

So that we would "become conformed to the image of His Son."

God is using every event in your life to do the work of sanctification. He is not wasting anything. Romans 8:28 tells us that God causes all things to work for this purpose. Even our sins, the sins of others against us, and the most painful experiences in life—God is using them to shape us into the likeness of Christ.

Your cancer, your grief over the loss of a loved one, your job loss, and every other hardship you face—God is using all of it to conform you to the image of His Son.

Our sole purpose is to glorify God, and the best way to do that is to become more like Christ. The most powerful witness to the world is when they see Jesus in us.

Romans 8:28 is my go-to verse when life overwhelms me with sorrow and fear. But understanding that everything happening in and around me is being used by God to make me more like Jesus helps me endure each day. My faith grows because I know what God is doing, even if I don’t always like it.

My prayer for all of you reading this is that you will make this promise of God real in your life. Memorize Romans 8:28. Study it. Meditate on it. Share it with others. Believe this truth and rejoice in it. It is truly life-changing.

All Things New

 This morning as I look out into the day, I see the sun is shining. The past several days have been dark and dreary filled with many periods of rain. It has been hard to get motivated. I think it could be easily said, it’s been a bit depressing.

But the way God works in the lives of His children, those who call Jesus Lord, is to work in the times of despair and suffering. Romans 5:3-5 explains this to us saying,  “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

We are called to rejoice in our sufferings, because it is in them that we are becoming like Christ. The Apostle Paul has written about suffering and resurrection in Philippians 3:8-11. Take a look.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

In order to know the power of resurrection, we must share in the sufferings of Jesus and become like Him in death. The transition of winter to spring is a picture of that process. Just as the seasons come and go here in the Midwest, so our lives have seasons of suffering and seasons of resurrection. But we have to die to be resurrected. 

The promises of God as found in the Bible are many. One of those promises is that we will have suffering. Jesus gave this promise in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Suffering is simply part of life. But we need not lose heart, for in the suffering and the death, comes resurrection. 

Just as winter is making way to spring, so is God working in the lives of His children. I close this morning with a promise from God.

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5 

This morning look out and see how God is making all things new. 

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 147

Psalm 147 is another psalm of praise.

Psalm 147:1
Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

If you woke up this morning wondering why you should praise God, this psalm gives us three reasons.

Psalm 147:2-6
The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.  He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.  Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.  The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.

We can praise God because we know He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. “Not me”, you proclaim. Yes, He does do this and will heal you as well. The problem does not lie within His ability. If God numbers and names each star, then He certainly knows you and your struggle. The problem lies within us. We say we believe and trust in him and yet, as soon as we face adversity we say God isn’t there. He is. Read the story of the healing at the pool in John, chapter five. Jesus simply tells the man, “Pick up your mat and walk.”, and the man does. The truth is we are not living in obedience to Jesus. We are not walking in faith. The Lord lifts up the humble.

Psalm 147:7-11
 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!  He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills.  He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.  His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Rather than focusing on our pain and our difficulties, we should sing to the Lord every day, declaring to Him our faith and reverence for Him. When we look at the creation, we see that God provides. He feeds the land with rain and the beasts with food. Yet, we put our trust in everything but Him. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.

Psalm 147:12-20
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!  For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.  He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat.  He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.  He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.  He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?  He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.  He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel.  He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. Praise the LORD!

God sends out His Word and through His Word, even the weather obeys. This is the reason I try not to complain about the weather. If we have snow and frost, it is a result of God commanding it. If we have wind, (my personal least favorite), it is because God made it blow. If it rains? Yes, it is God’s doing. Who are we to complain? And just as God’s Word commands the weather, His Word comes to us. Israel was chosen by God to preserve God’s Word so that we could be saved by it. Yet, the world does not know His laws and judgments. Do we?

This morning if you are struggling, the best thing you could do is fall before Almighty God in humility. Offer up your praise and worship. Yes, you can go to Him in your pain and pray for healing. But you must open up His Word and read the promises. You must open up the Word and read the commands. You must believe that when the God of the universe speaks, it is the truth and you can know that what He says will be. Do this and you will see the power of God in action. You will know Jesus has come to heal us. This is faith. Then you can pick up your mat and walk.

This morning start here: Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 69

Psalm 69 might be one for those who have suffered through the terrors of the recent hurricanes.

Psalm 69:1-2

Save me, O God, For the waters have threatened my life.  I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me.

But it is also a psalm for any of us who have faced difficult times, especially in the relationships we have with others, sometimes even those we love most.

Psalm 69:3-4
I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; My eyes fail while I wait for my God. Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies; What I did not steal, I then have to restore.

Friend, are you weary with crying? Turn to Jesus. He understands more than anyone else what this feels like. He was rejected and despised by His own people.

Psalm 69:7-9
Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Dishonor has covered my face.  I have become estranged from my brothers And an alien to my mother's sons.  For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

No matter what it is that has brought you to tears, the answer is found within the arms of Jesus. Though our sins be many, through Jesus, we can cry out to God in prayer.

Psalm 69:13-19
But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, at an acceptable time; O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness, Answer me with Your saving truth.  Deliver me from the mire and do not let me sink; May I be delivered from my foes and from the deep waters. May the flood of water not overflow me Nor the deep swallow me up, Nor the pit shut its mouth on me.  Answer me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me,  And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in distress; answer me quickly.  Oh draw near to my soul and redeem it; Ransom me because of my enemies!  You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; All my adversaries are before You.

If you are hurting, pray through God’s Word. Pray boldly as you remember what Jesus went through on the cross so that we might seek our Father in Heaven. Notice the picture of Jesus on the cross in the next few verses.

Psalm 69:20-21
Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, And for comforters, but I found none.  They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

The psalmist goes on in a prayer for his enemies to be stricken by God from the Book of Life. Certainly, we can understand those prayers, yet because Jesus went to the cross and died for the very people who crucified Him, we can also turn our prayers into prayers of good for our enemies.

Psalm 69:29-33
But I am afflicted and in pain; May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high.  I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving.  And it will please the LORD better than an ox Or a young bull with horns and hoofs.  The humble have seen it and are glad; You who seek God, let your heart revive.  For the LORD hears the needy And does not despise His who are prisoners.

You who seek God, let your heart revive. Because of Jesus, we can turn from sorrow to praise and thanksgiving. Again I say, pray through God’s word. Tell Him your needs. For the Lord hears the needy. The beginning of humility is confession of our own weakness.

Psalm 69:34-36
Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them.  For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, That they may dwell there and possess it.  The descendants of His servants will inherit it, And those who love His name will dwell in it.

Do you love the name of Jesus? If you do, then you can turn from your sorrows to a life of joy. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Those who love His name will dwell in the presence of God for all eternity. Take hope in the eternal life God has promised through Christ.

Lessons in Faith From King David

The life of David is one of the most fascinating stories in all of scripture. His story is a series of ups and downs, having risen from the lowly position of boy shepherd to King of Israel. God, Himself, said this of David, as we read from Acts 13:22, “And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’”

Yet David was a sinner. David’s sin with Bathsheba is still spoken of today, even those who don’t follow the Christian faith know it well. Not only did David sin in the adulterous affair, he took it to a horrible level by plotting the murder of Bathsheba’s husband.

One of the great messages in this story is found in God’s reaction to this sin. God let David know, that despite David’s attempts to cover these acts up, God saw. God did this by sending David’s close friend and advisor to give David this truth and Nathan masterfully showed David his sin. Then God delivers the discipline.

2 Samuel 12:11-12
Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’”

David’s response is confession and repentance. Another message comes clearly to us through the response of God.

2 Samuel 12:13-14
 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.”

This is a picture for us of how God operates. Like David, we were chosen of God. Through faith in Christ we are adopted into the family of God. Like David, we get idle and let our eyes wander away from Christ and start tempting ourselves with the things of the world, we sin. Sometimes God sends us a Nathan, but through Bible reading we also are made aware of our sins. So, like David, we confess and repent. Like David, God forgives us. But just as David’s sin brought consequences, so does ours. Sometimes the consequences of sin bring lifetime troubles that affect not only ourselves, but our families as well. This was what David faced.

2 Samuel 12:10
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

Sometimes the results of our sin will cause the “sword to never depart from our house.” Alcoholism, physical and sexual abuse, and drug addictions are examples of this principle. These sins can even affect not only our health, but the health of our children. Often these afflictions carry into the generations. In truth, all sickness is a result of sin. Sometimes sin affects only the perpetrator of it, but sometimes sin causes afflictions in babies and children. One horrible example is when a baby is born with a heroin addiction. Or when a father abuses his child and that child grows up with the same tendencies. This is what I believe is the meaning of Exodus 34:6-7 in which we read this, “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Yes, God forgives because He is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” But we cannot read only the first part of that verse, we must accept the full counsel of scripture.  That description of God’s mercy and grace includes these words, “but who will by no means clear the guilty.” God does not leave His people in their sin but as any good father would do, He uses discipline to grow us into the likeness of Christ. David knew this and He accepted this truth remaining faithful to His God.

David was God’s anointed King, yet David’s life had many sorrows and difficult times. Reading this morning in 2 Samuel 15 we find David again having to flee to the wilderness. The first time it was King Saul who wanted him dead. If that wasn’t hurtful enough to David, the second time it was his own son, Absalom. Absalom would attempt to steal away David’s kingdom. Again, David flees for his life, but this time his family is also in danger. In all this mess David never loses his loyalty to His God. David maintains faith in God and seeks His will.

2 Samuel 15:24-26
 And Abiathar came up, and behold, Zadok came also with all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God until the people had all passed out of the city. Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.”

What a statement of faith by David. First of all, he had his priorities right in sending the Ark of God back to where it belongs. He refuses to use it as some sort of good luck charm. But then he declares that whatever God chooses to do, he will accept God’s will. Even if God’s will is to turn His favor from David.

The Bible is filled with great lessons for us. David’s life is a diamond mine waiting for us to explore and to find great treasure. Why would God declare David a man after His own heart? Because David had faith to believe God is good in everything He does and allows.

Life is filled with hard things and difficult times. There will come betrayal and hurt and sometimes it will come from those we love the most. Somethings happen because of our own sin and sometimes the sins of others will find us in their wake. Read the story of King David. Read his psalms. He knew pain. So did Jesus. The way to react is to trust God in it. I leave you with one more scripture. As you ponder your own pain ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand the value of faith in God despite your pain and suffering. Then let God work in your pain to make you more like Christ, for that is the end plan for your life.

1 Peter 2:18-23
 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.