“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. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom 8:28-30).

These are some of the most beloved scriptures in the Bible. God’s Word brings great comfort to all believers. It points to the assurance of salvation and to God’s constant presence in our lives. It reminds us that God alone knows the end from the beginning. This is a categorical statement. It is not a prayer. It is a doctrine. It must be believed without any doubt! Amen!

We are told that all things work together for good, not to all people, but to a special group called the lovers of God. There are only two groups of people in this world: those who love God and those who hate God. We are all born sinners; all hated God, needed forgiveness and a Savior. “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Tit 3:3). A sinner is not just indifferent towards the God of the Bible. He hates God! He hates Jesus! These are some manifestations of hatred towards God: Like Peter, we deny that we know God. We ignore God or take Him for granted. We argue with God and His Word. We disobey His commands and feel no shame or regret. We insult God and take His name in vain by using the name of Jesus as a curse. When things do not go the way we want it, we blame God for our troubles. We think that God is unfair. We misuse God. We take His gifts, but we do not praise Him or thank Him. The Bible says that all sinners are under God’s wrath and judgment. There is no escape. The wrath of God is not hidden. It is revealed to man thru His Word. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them… 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom 1:18,19, 28-32). We don’t care about God’s feelings. We sympathize with sinners in their evil.

The great promise in Romans 8:28 does not apply to sinners, to those who hate God. It does not apply even to the religious unbelievers, people who attend church, but are not saved. All things do not work together for good to them. The religious unbelievers try to apply this scripture to their lives, but they get disappointed with God. Later, the devil uses them to discourage the true believers saying that God does not care, and God will not answer their prayers. Lesson: we should not be intimate with unbelievers. For example, if a believer marries an unbeliever, all things will work together for good for the believer but not for the spouse. That brings conflict in the marriage. Selah!

The next thing we can say about this scripture is that it applies to all things in life!!! It does not only apply to ‘the good things’, prosperity, peace or health. The promise includes ‘all things’, including trials, sicknesses, seasons of poverty, loneliness, spiritual evil attacks, mistakes and sins. Many believers get confused about this doctrine. They ask themselves: how can God use sickness or sins for our good? The truth is that God is not the author of sin. He does not tempt men. “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” (Jam 1:13). But God can use everything, including the devil, for His own glory and for our good. “All power belongs to God” (Ps 62:11). He can over-rule our mistakes or the consequences of our sins, extending His grace and mercy to the worst offender. Note that these things are not good in themselves. They do not work together for our good by their own power. It is God who uses them in such a way that eventually they work for our good. This is the mystery of the sovereign omnipotent God!

How does God use painful things for our good? First, difficult things like sickness, disappointment, or poverty, humble us. When things are good, we tend to become spiritually passive. Suddenly, we got sick. We experience pain and remember our body’s weakness. The sickness is uncomfortable. It is a shock to us! We suddenly ‘wake up’ and feel the need to draw closer to God, fast and pray. We now discover that our good health and prosperity contributes to our drifting away from God. We become humble and grateful for everything, including the pain. We can now say with the Psalmist: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes” (Ps 119:71). But the unbelievers suffer in vain. They waste their pains. They even become angry at God for allowing them to suffer. We now remember that we need forgiveness for sins and strength in our weakness. We reject the spirit of pride that so easily entangles us. Humility leads to wisdom and safety. It is during this strange process of things working together for our good that we re-discover the depths of God’s Love, His mercy, patience and Grace towards us. We may have known these blessings as doctrines, but now, we experience them personally. It is a pity that God needs to use pains to train us in godliness. There is no other way. Because of our sinful past, we tend to get easily distracted and forget spiritual things. We either get infatuated with the pleasures of life, or we get too worried about the cares of this world. Either way, we become too busy with the things of this world. Our focus in life becomes too small. We only care about our bodies and material things. We forget heaven. We forget the glory promised in Christ! Trials wake us to the eternal realities of God’s Kingdom. Our prayers and worship become purer. We start to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pet 3:18). This is the way to have an established testimony before men and that alone is a mighty gain! Praise the Lord!

God says: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa 45:7; KJ). In Hebrew, the word ‘darkness’ also means ignorance, wickedness, sorrow and death. The word ‘evil’ means calamity (a sudden violent event that brings great loss and sorrow). Here, Jehovah God takes responsibility in creating not only light and peace, but also darkness and evil, terrible disasters. Because we think of God as ‘a good man’, incapable to cause pain to us, this revelation is confusing. But this is the truth. God has created the devil and the demons as angels in heaven. But Satan rebelled against God. Some angels followed him in rebellion. God threw them away from heaven to earth. Working all things together for our good is not an encouragement to commit sin. God hates sin. Evil is always bad. Sin is never good. What God does is that He controls evil. The devil is not free to ‘kill, steal, and destroy’ as he wishes. God limits and redirects the amount of destruction coming from the devil. Jesus said that we pray like this: “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” (Matt 6:13). Why then God allows us sometimes to enter temptation and fall into sin? Why does God allow Christians to backslide sometimes? One reason is that we discover the truth about ourselves. He exposes the pride, deception, the foolishness of our hearts. We can easily become proud and get a false sense of confidence. We feel that we do not need God anymore. The truth is that we always need God, until our last breath. God allows us to fall to become humble and draw closer to Him. God is an excellent Father! He trains His children well. See how the Father of the Prodigal son used pains to achieve the necessary humility and godliness in his son!

God’s will is revealed in the Bible. It is described as sovereign, good and acceptable (or permissive) (Rom 12:2). God permits ‘bad things’ to happen to the believers thru His permissive will. God allows us to experience some things, even though these things do not bring pleasure to Him. God allows certain things to happen, even sinful things, that indirectly accomplish His sovereign will. God created the universe, and the natural world. He also created man. Man was deceived by Satan and chose to disobey God. Sin entered humanity and has negatively affected everything and everyone since then. God could have prevented Adam from falling. But He chose not to. God had a strategy to deal with sin and Satan. God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for the sins of men. As a Man in Heaven, and Lord over all, Jesus Christ has now received all the glory due to God alone. Because God knows everything and God is sovereign, for any evil to happen, God must allow it thru His permissive will. God never makes mistakes. God does not force man to do His perfect will. He allows man to decide between His perfect and permissive will. But once we choose a sinful path, there are consequences. We cannot avoid these consequences. Thru pain, we learn from our past mistakes and try to obey God’s perfect will in the future. We experience God’s permissive will every day. For better or for worse, God allows us to make decisions: what we eat, how we spend our time, where we work, whom we marry, and much more. Some of our choices have lifelong consequences, but some won’t. Other people’s choices may affect us negatively. Sometimes, unpleasant events come our way. But we should remember that whatever is happening to us is part of God’s permissive will. God is still on the throne. God has never given up on His total control over His creation! No matter what we experience in life, God is fully in charge!

In God’s permissive will, evil is allowed to function, but God’s perfect plan triumphs every time. For example, God allowed the kidnapping and enslavement of Joseph. Each time Joseph suffered, God had the power to intervene, but He sovereignly “permitted” the evil. Note that God’s permissive will never counteract His sovereign will or His overall plan for man. God allowed the sins of Joseph’s brothers to bring about a greater good. When Jesus was arrested, He told His enemies, “This is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53). Evil had been granted a window of opportunity, and evil men were taking full advantage of it. That was indeed a dark night, but the final result was the salvation of mankind. God only permits that which will lead to His sovereign will being accomplished for His glory!

God may ignore the evil unbelievers do but He surely disciplines His children. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities” (Amos 3:2). “For whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb 12:6). There is a warning about taking the Holy Communion in a wrong manner. “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks [g]in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep” (1Cor 11:28-30). We are told that taking the Holy Communion in careless, disrespectful manner, can result in weakness of the body, sickness or even untimely death.

Another way that God makes all things to work together for our good, is by withholding some blessings. All believers have experienced seasons of spiritual dryness. They felt far from God, and their prayers did not rise to heaven. These seasons of spiritual wilderness are unpleasant. During these difficult times we humble ourselves and continue to pray to God. Sometimes, not always, The Holy Spirit reveals why we need to pass thru the valley of the shadow of death. This is necessary so that we cooperate and even appreciate the pain coming from the hand of our loving Father. Eventually, the darkness is over and ‘joy comes in the morning!’. The times of ‘reconciliation’ with God are sweeter than ever. We learn to appreciate God’s presence even more and our love for God increases! Hallelujah! 

“And we know that all things work together for good…”.  Apostle Paul takes it for granted that as believers we should “know” these things. I may not know the reason for the pain, or how long the trial will last, but I know that God is with me in the pain, and He will bring good to me at the end. I may not understand everything that happens to me in this life on earth, but I am sure that my salvation and place in heaven is guaranteed. We are not promised a life free from trials or pains. But we are promised victory in Christ and to have God’s Presence with us to the end of time. Jesus said: “I WILL NEVER [under any circumstances] DESERT YOU [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], NOR WILL I FORSAKE or LET YOU DOWN or RELAX MY HOLD ON YOU [assuredly not]!” (Heb 13:5; AMP). The hope of heavenly glory is found in Christ alone. This hope sustains me on earth during seasons of spiritual darkness. Because my soul is anchored in heaven, my hope is strong, and I know that I will make it to the other side. Unbelievers never see any good thing in the trials of life. But we see Christ, who suffered like us and now, He is glorified in heaven. Little by little we see that testing times are growing times and healing times. Look at all the people who suffered, Joseph, Job, David and others. They remained faithful in their suffering. They became better at the end and God was glorified in their lives. By God’s grace, this is our portion too!

The promise that “all things work together for good” applies only to a group of people: these are the ones who Love God and are the called according to His Purpose. Loving God and being called by God are other ways to describe the true believers in Christ. Why did Paul describe the Christians as those ‘who love God’ and not as those who have faith in God. Because to love God is more powerful in describing the believer than to say he trusts God. Love is greater than Faith and is a more sensitive test of being a child of God. Loving God is more than an emotion. To have faith, you need only your mind. But to love, you need your whole body, soul and spirit. This is the first Commandment: “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mk 12:30). The act of love involves 100% of your emotions, will, mind and the physical strength of the body. Demons believe in God, but they hate God. “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (Jam 2:19). Unbelievers can’t love because their minds and hearts are darkened and blind to spiritual realities (Eph 7:17,18). They are God haters. They cannot love God!

What are some tests that you are saved, and that you love God? “We love Him because He first loved us” (1Jn 4:19). Loving God is our response to His own first Love. If you discover that you can love God, then you know that you are a believer in Christ, and all things will work together for good for you. The first test of love is your attitude during trials. He who loves God will endure the trial and pass the test successfully. The one who does not love God, during trials, he will be angry, blaming God. Watch the way Job and his wife react to the same trial, and to the same pains. After they lost their children, and their property, and Job got sick, his wife challenged him to curse and deny God. She said: “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:9,10). One of the signs that you don’t love God is that during trials you want to curse God and die. That is the foolishness of unbelief and a sign of hating God. But Job loved God. In all things, he continued to worship God. For such a person, God will bring an expected end and bless him at last. “Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning…” (Job 42:12). Amen!

Believers are also described as “the called” of God. There is a general call and an effectual call of God. We tell all people everywhere about the Gospel of Christ crucified and resurrected. People all over the world are commanded to repent of sins and turn to God (Ac17:30,31).  But not all people who hear the Gospel will eventually believe. Those who truly believe, they will love God. Faith leads to Love! They respond to God’s call of grace. They become born-again by the Holy Spirit. These are “The Elect or the Called”. The rest continue living in sin until they die. Only God knows who are the called. How do you know that you are among “the called”? You testify that the Holy Spirit has convicted you of sin. You repented of sins. You are hungry and thirsty to know God more. You study God’s Word. You pray. You love God and you love the brethren. You love to go to church. These spiritual emotions are real. Because you know that you are a child of God, you also know that all things work together for your good because God is totally in charge of your life. That gives you the confidence to endure during trials. You know that you are called, therefore, you are justified and surely glorified! These are all in past tense! Heaven is sure!