For Good

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

Romans 8:28 

What is good? When the Scripture says ‘all things work together for good,’ what does that mean? Is good the absence of all pain? Does good mean we will not suffer loss, or have long-term illnesses? Does good mean we will not have to endure hardship? What we know of the personal histories of God’s people tells us that good as we read it in our text must mean something else. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, and a host of others, all endured hard things. Job is perhaps the quintessential suffering saint. Our text tells us all things work together for good for those who love God. The only way we can properly understand what is good is by seeing things from God’s perspective. He sees the end from the beginning. It has been His intention to do us good since before the foundation of the world. He chose us in Christ, predestined us for adoption as His children, gave us redemption through His blood, and purposed to gather us all together in Christ. These are a few of the large list of things God has done in order to do us good. The culmination of these is in the eternal kingdom. Anything else, as unpleasant as it may be, is a means to that larger end. We may not always understand it. What we do know is that God will reveal all in due course of time.   

Our All-Wise and All-Loving God,
we rejoice that You know the end from the beginning.
We praise You that, by Your mighty power,
You will bring us all that is good.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning