Romans 8:28 – “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.”  NKJV

Through the years, I have heard interesting interpretations of various passages of scripture in which people struggle and, often misunderstand.  I am not trying to elevate myself as some biblical genius but I have discovered, in myself, and others that sometimes we fail to read what is said and read what we wanted a passage to say.  I am not suggesting the misreading was malicious but because we do not always “mediate” on a passage and as Charles Finney contended, “come at it from all sides until we have exhausted our ability to see various facets of the passage.” 

I have ministered to families and individuals in the midst of terrible tragedy and have them or someone who genuinely cared about them declare, “Well, we know that all things are for the good.”  That is not what that passage said and if we adopt that philosophy we develop a fatalistic mindset that will potentially shipwreck our faith and cause us great harm and unnecessary discomfort in life.

Let’s examine the passage slowly and see if we come to a different conclusion than the aforementioned interpretation.   Paul begins, “And we know…”  He is saying that this understanding is common knowledge and something that can be arrived at with reason and logic.  I would suggest he is addressing it as though he did not need to go into detail for the understanding was commonly understood and the view conveyed commonly accepted.  What do we know?  We know, “that all things…”  Everything in life is included in ALL THINGS.  What about all things that we know?  We know that all things, “work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose…”  Now that is an interesting thought needing further examination and illustration.

I cannot imagine telling a parent who had just lost a child in a terrible tragedy that the loss was good or for the good.  I cannot imagine telling a grandparent who had just arrived on the scene of the loss of their daughter and three grandchildren that the event was good or for the good.  I cannot imagine telling a man who had just lost his job and now faces the terrible prospects of not being able to provide for his wife and children that it was good or for the good.  If you came to me in those situations and said, “Well it’s all for the good” I would probably not be a good audience.  I prayed about this and the Lord helped me with an illustration that enabled me to not only understand this passage but embrace it in all things and at all times.

GRANDMA’S CHOCOLATE CAKE:

My mother and grandmother used to bake and they baked their cakes from scratch.  They would assemble various ingredients to be included in the chocolate cake and then go through a process of blending them together to achieve the finished product of that moist delicious chocolate cake.  I won’t try to list all the ingredients but go through enough we can see what I am illustrating.

There would be flour.  Now, I don’t know about you but if you placed a bowl of flour in front of me and said, “This is good”, suggesting that I eat the cake in installments, I would protest and argue that the flour is not good.  If you cracked a few eggs, put them in a bowl and offered them to me as an installment of the cake, I would not consider that good.  Nor would I want the baking powder, salt, sugar, or even the bitter chocolate used to make the cake in installments and would not consider most of them good in and of themselves.  So they would begin the process of taking the individual items and blend them together in a mixing bowl which we can call life.  They took the flour, eggs, butter, sugar, salt, chocolate, milk, and more and placed them individually in the bowl and took the mixer or mixing spoon and beat them into submission until one item became completely intermingled with the other.  Once they had achieved the desired mix and texture, they would pour the ingredient into the baking dish and place it in the oven to come under high heat for a period of time.  Isn’t that just like life?  Event after event comes to us and over time each of those events becomes intermeshed with our lives until we are a compilation of those experiences and events.  That would seem enough, right?  But not then the Lord allows us to be placed in the oven and heated.

It is after the cooking that Grandma would take out the finished product, the chocolate cake and put the icing on it and serve it.  That was the GOOD and it only became good by WORKING TOGETHER all the ingredients into a single mixture.  That is LIFE!  That is all things working together for good.  That is God taking the good and the bad in life and blending in us that which shapes and molds us into that finished product the world can see that walks as a manifestation of Jesus.  All things are not good but they are WORKING TOGETHER to produce that which is good.  God will use everything in life to bring mold and shape us into that which He desires us to be.

            God bless you and know that God is working for your good!