Thoughts for another day

Sept. 17, 2007

Today's verse: Rom. 8:28. 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. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Many of us have read this verse time and again and have also heard it being proclaimed and urged for us. This verse and the Word in it are as fresh today as they were when Paul wrote to the Romans. The core message is that every situation and everything that concerns us, who love God, are meant to work for our good.

Now while gathering the import of the message, some may ask, ‘How does cancer work for my good?’, ‘How would my lost investment work for my good?’... Yes, I might say, when we look at the tribulations we face, it may seem the situation cannot lend itself for good in our lives; and how can it be? A divorce, a death of one so young in the family and other such seemingly meaningless occurrences surely cannot work for our good no? Human wisdom seems stumped with such thinking because the brain cannot fathom beyond the ramifications of human knowledge and understanding.

With God however, all ‘finiteness’ ends. Someone once said, God can write straight on a crooked line. Imagine if you will the power in this understanding. God can work marvelously with broken lives and broken pieces. As a tack to our understanding, let’s take broken pieces of colored glass (particularly of bangles), what use could we possibly have of them other than feeding the bin? But when you put the same pieces of glass and use them in a kaleidoscope, wow…what brilliant patterns emerge!

So it is with anything put into God’s hands. Lives thrive; wisdom enlarges itself to include the incomprehensible and so on. Understand my friend that even before the foundation of this world, God had you in mind. He saw your dedication and faithfulness then and He knew you loved Him. He purposed events in your life to keep the faithfulness and dedication intact and you never did understand. Yet, deep within, you knew, God would work the tribulation for your good, so you persevered. And as you persevered, you grew in faith.

At a particular point, your faith helped others and their faith in the Great Master grew. Did you know this? No, you didn’t. All you held on to is that if you trusted God, the good would emerge from the troubled situation. You were right. People were saved and came to God. You became in turn a honored vessel in God’s hand. Your reward is your eternal address in God’s Mansion through His goodness and that is your ‘good’.