In all things God works for the good of those who love
him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
Did God one day create cancer and say, This is great!
People are going to love this once they figure out it’s for their own good!? What
about tsunamis? …child abuse? I don’t think so. While I’m sure that
occasionally something that appears bad could be planned by God and ultimately
be a good thing after all, the truth is bad things happen to good people, and
there’s no sense blaming God for that.
But Romans 8:28 doesn’t say nothing bad will ever happen to
us. It doesn’t even say every bad thing is a good thing in disguise that we are
just too limited to see. What it does say is that God works for our good in
everything that happens. The question is: Will we let him?
When bad things happen to us, we can spend the rest of our
lives being resentful, blaming anyone and everyone else for our problems, or we
can surrender those hurts to God and ask him to help us grow through them. If
we submit those things to God, he will reveal something of himself to us – he
might even show us something about ourselves we didn’t know – that will help us
come out on the other side stronger and more like Christ. In fact, it is by
giving ourselves to God in those difficult times, we allow him the freedom to
work into our lives the healing and growth we need, which in turn brings about
the abundant life (John 10:10). The end results are often determined by our
response.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
How can times of trouble
and trial serve as opportunities for God to do good things in your life, and to
bring good things to your life?
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