Christian Living

ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD

by Ezekiel Olukolajo
01/23/23
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“All Things Work Together for Good” Part 1

 “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”. Romans 8:28;  

To comprehend what the Bible means when it says “all things work together for good to them that love God…”, firstly, we need to properly understand what God sees as “good” and what is considered “good” in the sight of God.

In our judgement as human beings, whatever brings us sweetness, happiness, excitement, satisfaction, pleasure, laughter, great feelings etc. will reasonably be regarded as good. As humans, there’s that tendency to consider only those things which please us well as good. However, what the All-knowing God calls “good”, are necessarily not the things which bring sweetness or happiness to us. As far as God is concerned, whatever supports, enables, contributes or leads to the fulfillment of His divine purpose in our lives is considered absolutely good, even though it brings us pains, discomfort, or make us weep. As believers, it is important we realize that God looks beyond our comfort; God’s purpose is bigger than man’s comfort.

In Jeremiah 29:11, the Bible says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end”. Many people often read and interpret this verse in isolation, but if the verse is considered within the context of the subject of discuss of the whole chapter, we will clearly understand that, what God was asking the Israelites not to see as evil, was their captivity in Babylon, which was going to last for seventy (70) long years! Before the authentic word of the Lord came through Prophet Jeremiah, many Prophets had prophesied lies to the people in the name of the LORD, that they would be instantly delivered from captivity in Babylon and that they would not stay one more night. However, God immediately issued a disclaimer that He never sent those Prophets who prophesied what the people wanted to hear. God clearly revealed that as far as His divine plan was concerned, the children of Israel would remain in captivity in Babylon for complete seventy (70) years. The people considered this an extreme “evil”, but God says “…my thoughts are not of evil…”.

Sometimes, God allows certain things that may not be pleasant to come our ways, but what we need to understand at that moment is that God usually sets His eyes on the end, which is why He says “…to give you an expected end”. God’s commitment is to give us an expected end. On the mount of transfiguration, the vision that the disciples saw was the vision of the risen Christ in glory, they never saw the vision of battered and humiliated Christ on the cross of Calvary. It appears God usually shows us the glorious end but keeps the details of the sufferings along the paths to glory from us. I guess this is deliberate on His part, because, if we see the sufferings along the paths, we may never want to go for that glorious future/end He has prepared for us.   

Even when things that can be truly considered as “evil” happen, we are never in doubt that God does no evil, because He is eternally good. The Almighty God, being Who He is, has a way of turning the evil that satan orchestrates, around for the good of His children in the fulfillment of His divine purpose. Amen! For instance, when we remember all that befell Job, we would recall that it was satan that brought the evils upon him, albeit, not without God’s knowledge. But, what’s more important is that at the end, God’s divine purpose was fulfilled in the life of Job. Job was closer to God, had a brand new revelation of God and equally had everything he lost restored in double fold. At the end, God won, Job won, and satan lost woefully!   

Like Jesus said to Peter in John 13:7 “…What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter”, there are so many things that’ll be difficult for us to comprehend or understand on this side of eternity. Like Peter, we often don’t understand the details of what the Lord is doing in our lives, but He, the Lord, gently assures us as did He to Peter, “you don’t understand what I’m doing now, but later, whether in life or the other side of eternity, you will surely understand”. As believers, even when we don’t understand what God is doing, one thing that we should never doubt is that God is Love, He is eternally good.  

“All things work together for good to them that love God”. As believers, our commitment must always be to love God wholeheartedly, and as long as we fulfill this solemn condition of remaining in God’s love, it is His strict responsibility to see that all things, no matter what, works together for our good, fulfillment of His divine purpose. This is why Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:35-37; “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us”. 

The second condition that must be fulfilled if we desire God to make all things work together for our good is that we must be part of “… them who are the called according to his purpose”. The “calling” here is beyond calling into ministry or ministerial assignments. The key meaning of the Greek word “kletos” or “klay-tos” interpreted “called” in this verse, means “invited”. Everyone is responding to and being driven by that particular thing that’s “inviting” or “beckoning” to them. To break it down, each of us must ask ourselves the honest question “what’s driving me?”, It’s only those that are absolutely driven by God’s divine purpose only that can have the assurance that God will supervise all things to work in their favor. If our feet are firmly planted in the will of God, and we are driven only by His purpose and interest, God is duty bound to take full responsibility for anything that befalls or comes our ways.

Someone once said “Don’t ask ‘how did I get here?’, but ask ‘why am I here?’ Your purpose is bigger than your pains”. God’s purpose in our lives is much bigger than our pains and situations. Jesus says, “everything shall pass away (including our pains), but he that does the will of the Father shall abide forever”. As we walk through the unknown paths of life, the safest thing is to trust God enough that He will not fail in His responsibilities towards us. Although, satan’s trick is to make us doubt God’s love, but we know that the LORD is good and His mercies endure forever! Amen.

Ezekiel Olukolajo 

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