God Will Bring Things Together
Romans 8:28-30
Psalm 62
Here we are in the last week
of the Church calendar. Next Sunday is Advent, which denotes the start of a new
calendar year.
In the lectionary, this
Sunday is called “Christ the King.” We
end the year proclaiming Christ as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving,
a joyful time with family and friends. In the next few weeks, we anticipate the
coming of Christmas. The streets and department
stores are already decorated. Even when
you enter any bookstore, you will find a section of Christmas books, movies,
CDs, music, and chocolate! People are
rushing, traveling, shopping. There is
movement in the streets. There should be joy and happiness.
In last week’s Psalm 100,
which has only five verses, King David reminded us five times to have joy in
the Lord.
Are we happy? Are we content?
Consider the following
mottos: “Liberte,
Egalite, Fraternite” in
Well, the Bible teaches us to
have joy and happiness. In his prayer in
John 17, Jesus prays to the Father, “I pray that they may have the full
measure of my joy within them.” Jesus
is praying for happiness for his disciples, who will be persecuted, who will be
beaten and put to death. Yet, Jesus
promised joy.
I struggle with this. I struggled when I was in the war situation in
Romans 8:28 is a famous Bible verse. However, often believers and even nonbelievers
misuse it. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who
love him…” I hear different
interpretations of this verse. Many think
that whatever happens, good or bad, something good will come out eventually. I don’t think this is the meaning of this
verse. We should not take this verse
alone, out of context.
1. Bad things
will happen.
“All things” will happen to Christians.
Christians are not exempt from bad
things. We need to understand that the
Bible never promises us Christians that bad things will not happen. Terrible things can happen to people who love
God.
“All things” says Paul. What is “all things?” In the same chapter,
verse 35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or
famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”
Paul is facing “all things”. He is someone who loves God, and serves Him.
2. Things work for good BECAUSE of GOD
Things never turn to be good
on their own. The Armenian saying goes,
“from everything bad something good comes.” Nonsense! Nothing good comes from bad things. Bad things are bad. Try to explain this to a patient who is going
through cancer treatment. Cancer is bad.
Nothing good comes from it. Yet listen carefully to what the Bible is
saying, “Someone can turn things to GOOD, and that is God.”
Our bodies are aging and
dying. Someone once told me, “You know
whenever I celebrate my birthday, I remember that I am coming closer to my
end.” That is an interesting way to
celebrate a birthday. Personally, I
enjoy life, and whenever I celebrate my birthday I say “Thank you Lord for the years
you gave me.”
So, Christians stop saying
that things ought to be right, things have to go right. Learn to see that things can be right
because someone can turn things right, that is God. God will bring things together.
Again the promise is not if you
love God good things will happen. No.
The promise is not saying
whenever bad things happen, in reality they are not
bad. The promise is that God will work
on them and good will come to us eventually. When? Tomorrow, next week? Do
not put God in your time. God does not
work according to your timing.
We will continue in English
examining David’s Psalm 63.