28 Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. (JBP)
Verses such as this can easily be misunderstood. It does not suggest everything that happens to us is good. It doesn’t mean God sends some really bad thing our way so that a really good thing happens.
It rather means that whatever happens, good or bad, God is able to use it in such a way as to advance his purposes. So it doesn’t mean that after a bad thing we get immediate relief. The ‘good’ that results may be a long time coming and we may not even see it happen.
But sometimes we do see clear evidence. The very things that wound us can be the very things that drive us into the strong arms of grace. If life proceeds with perfect smoothness we may well be tempted to get by on our own and not give God much thought. When trouble comes, though, we fling ourselves helplessly on the only one who can help.
In this way, our sins, our addictions, our weaknesses can bring about good. Not that they are good in themselves: rather they can result in goodness. God gives us freedom to rebel against him. We suffer some consequences of that. But even as we do so, God’s ultimate purposes will not be thwarted. God is able to redeem things in such a way that what we consider irretrievably broken gets put back together.
Our painful, sometimes self-inflicted, wounds become our healing.
Blessings
David Reay
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