Understanding Romans 8:28

by Stacia on 8th Feb 2010 | View all blogs by Stacia
I wanted to share something that hit me while in Church yesterday. One of the verses the Pastor quoted was Romans 8:28 " And we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (NIV). He read that verse and then made the comment that not all things that happened to us would be good but that God would use them for good.
Wow!
Ok, so I basically tuned out for a few minuets after he said that ( sorry Pastor Brinker!) because I had to look a bit more closely at that verse. The KJV says this "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."
Now, the sermon yesterday was how pivotal circumstances could grow your faith and the Pastor used the death and resurrection of Lazarus as his example and he talked about how Lazarus died so that others would believe in God.
Again, WOW!!!
Now, this is one of those verses that you here Christians quote all the time, especially to other Christians who may be going through difficult times or questioning what God is doing in their lives. I myself have actually avoided quoting this verse to others or to myself because I felt like it was saying that good should always come to me just because I love God and we all know that just because we are saved by grace doesn't mean our lives are magically easy.
So, as I looked more closely at the words in this verse and thought about what Pastor Brinker said it just hit me- anything that happens in our lives, good, bad, or ugly, God can use it for good because we love Him.

  • All things - This means the good that happens in our lives as well as the painful and the bad
  • Work together for good - This means that God is going to use the things that happen in our lives for good; the good of growing your faith or the good of bringing others to Christ
  • To them that love God - God does this because we love Him and we are called to His purpose which is to bring others to Christ

God didn't promise us an easy life when we decided to follow Him and in John 16:33 he says "....in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." NIV

In Romans 5: 3-5 we see that we should "...rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." NIV

I now have a better understanding of this verse and will not think of it as the pat answer to a Christian suffering but as the reason that suffering happens, for God's good, for our good even though when your going through trials you don't see how there can be any good that can come out of it and yet this verse assures us that the things in our lives aren't just random happenings with no meaning or purpose and that makes me feel better.

But I still don't like the bad things!

Comments

3 Comments

  • Linda
    by Linda 1 month ago
    Good points Stacey!!

    Funny story - I logged in this morning and saw you wrote this blog, but hadn't read it yet. I left CMW and read my email. I get daily devotional emails from Pastor Joel Osteen from Lakewood Church in Houston. His email today was on this exact same verse. So, of course I had to come right back here and read yours!!

    Coincidence - or am I really suppose to look at this verse?!?!
  • Stacia
    by Stacia 1 month ago
    Thats funny! Guess you should look at this verse. It is amazing how you can know a verse for so long but never really see it!
  • Kim
    by Kim 29 days ago
    we just discussed this verse in pwoc last wednesday. we were talking specifically about how people will often misuse this verse by quoting it after a death or in tragedy or just in difficult times to others. But how often do people really stop and think about the good that can come from tragedy or death? They are merely trying to make the family feel better but they aren't really meaning that God can use the situation for good. (ok so maybe not in all cases but in say 80%) My pastor always says that good things don't always happen and sometimes bad things happen just because they do, but in EVERY situation God is at work!
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