A Quick Thought on All Things Working for our Good

Recently I was studying another topic, and came across something that changed my thinking concerning how all things work together for our good. I am sure we all know Rom. 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” I had always seen the working together in a passive light, but the word is an active one – sunergeo. That same word is used of God working miracles on behalf of the apostles preaching (Mark 16:20), of faith co-operating with works, and a couple of times in the sense of fellow worker or auxiliary (1 Cor. 16:16; 2 Cor. 6:1). So not only are all things passively going to work out for our good, but they are actively working to achieve God’s goal. In the same way that the tension of a bow gives and arrow more force, or the turbulence of the air the eagle more height so the distresses of this world propel the Christian forward. In a certain sense it is not in spite of these things that we triumph, but because of them. What message would George Fox and John Bunyan have had had they not known the dark nights of searching? Their struggles were both personal doubts they had to wrestle with, and God appointed trials to bring them and others into the light of day. God’s strength is and always had been made perfect in weakness. In whatever you are facing now, remember if you love the Lord and called according to His purpose, He has ordained every struggle you will face as a training ground to make you stronger than you could ever be without. Trials are not a necessary evil they are an indispensible tool to form you into what God intends you to be, and they will take you higher than you could ever go without them. May God lead us ever on! Amen.