All things...

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

New American Standard Version 1977

For this week's post, I was going to share on something different, but I had this burning desire to share about this in light of some of the things I have learned in the last couple of weeks and hopefully encourage other people who may be going through similar situations.

I know most of us may have read this passage on our own or  heard it from someone else. At other times, we may have just glossed over it or even said it as a means of comfort in a sad situation. For me, I have come to truly understand the meaning of this scripture in recent times and it was not so easy to accept at first.

I chose the version above because I somehow fell in love with it as I pondered deeper on what this passage means. I will attempt to break it down in light of my experiences and what I am learning about this.

Firstly, it says "And we know..." This three words give me life."And we know" means that it is something we are already aware of. As people that love God, seek to do his will and make him happy on a daily basis, this verse presumes that we are already aware that God is constantly causing things to work out for our good. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to know and believe this which is why we need to continue feeding our faith daily. Whenever we forget, as human beings often do, we need to constantly remind ourselves that this is something we already know and have already been witnesses to in the past. I am sure a lot of us have had experiences that seemed so disappointing at first, but later turned out to be great, hence the popular saying "Every disappointment is a blessing in disguise". Our confidence in God of this great ability to turn the not-so-great-things around, is in our knowing that he has the power to do same.

Secondly, and this is my most favourite part, it says "God causes all things to work together for good...". Not "some things", or  "most things" or a  "few things", or  "all good things", or  "most good things". It says  "all things". I used to think that all things meant all good things that happen to you since they work together for good anyway. I also has this line of thought because let's face it, it is easier to believe this passage when all is going right in the world with us. I used the normal human mathematics logic which could be good+good= good. I often wondered how good+bad=good or bad+bad=good because really, what can really come out of a bad situation anyway? Well, that was my mentality, but in understanding God, I have come to understand that Godmathics has different principles and operates on a totally different level. In Godmathics, bad+bad could be equal to good or good+bad could be equal to good as well. 

One encouraging thing I learn from these nine words is that God has the power to cause all things to work together for good. So I sat back and thought about these words when some not-so-great things happened to me these past couple of weeks,and I wondered "well, what's the good in this?" I guess I failed to recognise the depth of those nine words because if I did, I would have understood that all things does not necessarily mean the absence of bad things, it means the presence of both good and not-so-good things (be it the loss of a loved on or something valuable or disappointment which we least expected from someone we love) and that God causes them ALL to work together for good This means that no matter how "impossible" it is to find the good in some things, God is constantly causing them to work together for good at the end of the day. Recently, someone dear to me reminded me of this scripture when I needed it the most.I was down and discouraged about an unfortunate incident that happened. I asked "All things...really?" almost in disbelief because at that moment I could not see how any good could come of such a discouraging situation. But he quietly replied "All things." And those two words have stuck with me ever since.

I realized that although God wants the best for us and wants only good things to happen to us, the reality is that because of the fallen world we live in, bad things or events may occur that may be discouraging or outrighty disappointing. However, God is able to cause everything including the not-so-great-things to work for our good.

Therefore, God has the power to cause bad+bad to be equal to good. The eventual result is good even though sometimes we may not see the good from God's view.In fact,I have learned that sometimes, we may not know the good that worked out from a terrible situation and so we might find ourselves waiting weeks, months or years to find "the good". Sometimes, what we hope might be the good that might come out of a situation might not necessarily be the good that God has kept in store for us. Sometimes, the good might not even come in this lifetime but in the next and that should also encourage us because His plans for us as are perfect and always good. 

The last part which is sometimes glossed over alot by us in times of much needed encouragement says "to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose". This clearly means that those who love God (who are constantly trying to do what pleases Him) can always trust his power, goodness, kindness and will to work everything out for our good. In having a close relationship with Him, we understand that all he wants is to give us the very best.

Remember that God sees the end from the beginning and knows everything that is going on. He knows the future and His desires in our lives will be accomplished. Therefore, whatever circumstance you are going through right now, remember that God is with you and sees it all. "God is active and will conclude things according to His good and wise design." 

Sometimes we worry about what is happening to us or what we are going through because we do not know what is best for us, but God knows.

No matter how crazy it may get, no matter how disappointing, painful, sad, hurt, chaotic, discouraging and depressing things may be,remember that God is in charge and ALL THINGS are being caused by God to work together for your good. 

So the next time, you feel there is no light at the end of the tunnel or a situation is just too discouraging that there is no way anything good can come of it, silently mutter to yourself "ALL THINGS" and remember the promise God has in store for you.