“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
My mom loves to work with her hands. All around our house hang pictures she made by cross-stitch. Before she starts any cross-stitching project, she always makes sure that she has all of the different colored threads she needs. In order for the picture to turn out right, she has to use black thread when the pattern calls for black thread, and red thread when the pattern calls for red thread.
You can think of your life like one of the cross-stitch projects my mom makes. If you were watching my mom cross-stitch with beautiful red thread – and you hadn’t seen the pattern – you might wonder why sometimes she stops using red and starts using black thread instead. In the same way, you might wonder why God takes away the “good things” in your life and lets “bad things” happen instead. Why is your sister sick? Why did your father lose his job? Why did your family have to move to a different city?
In Isaiah 55:8-9, God tells us that His thoughts and ways are much higher than yours. Sometimes, you don’t understand God’s plans. But whether God is using a red thread or a black thread in your life, you can be confident that He knows what He is doing! Romans 8:28 promises that you don’t have to worry about whether or not your situation will work out right; you don’t have to worry, because you can know that it will work out for your good! My mom has to use many different colors of thread, but in the end the picture turns out right. God knows the picture He wants to make with your life, and He uses many different things – some you may like, and some you may not like – in order for the picture to turn out just the way He planned.
If you want to know what my mother’s cross-stitch will look like when she’s done, you can look at her pattern. But can we see the pattern God is following? We can! Jesus Christ is the pattern, and God is changing us according to the pattern that Jesus made with His life. (That’s what the next verse, Romans 8:29 says.) So when Paul says that God is working everything out, he doesn’t mean that things always turn out the way we want them to. Instead, Paul is saying that we will turn out the way God wants us to!
Is there something going on in your life that you don’t understand? Do you trust that God, Who is sovereign, knows what He is doing? Or do you blame God for not always giving you “good things”? If you are a child of God, you can be sure that He will work all things for your good according to His perfect plan.
God uses everything in my life to make me more like Jesus.
My Response:
» What situation in my life do I need to trust God with?
» How could God be using this situation to make me more like Jesus?