God Will Bring Things Together (2)

 

Romans 8:28-30

Psalm 62

 

OK, we are talking about learning to trust God when bad things happen. Learning that bad things are bad, and only through God things can come together for good. Bad things cannot be good; only through God things can change into good.

 

In Psalm 63, David describes his life. He is in misery.

David, who was chosen by God to be the chosen king, now is looking for a place to hide. From whom? From his son Absalom. Absalom, one of his sons, wanted to take over his father’s kingdom. He is started talking against his father. People who heard this, told David that his bad days were coming. So David left Jerusalem, left the palace, and went to the desert of Judea. This place was very dry, like the Nevada desert, like the deserts of Der Zor and Qamishli. There, in his misery and pain, he wrote these words:

1 O God, you are my God,
       earnestly I seek you;
       my soul thirsts for you,
       my body longs for you,
       in a dry and weary land
       where there is no water.

    2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
       and beheld your power and your glory.

    3 Because your love is better than life,
       my lips will glorify you.

    4 I will praise you as long as I live,
       and in your name I will lift up my hands.

    5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
       with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

David really knows a king’s lifestyle. He knows the rich life that he had experienced. Yet, look at verse 3: God’s LOVE (HASAD in Hebrew) is better than life. David, a king whose life was the richest, prefers God’s love to his life. Hasad is the word that means “loyal love”, non-deserting love, perfectly loyal love.

 

One can think, well, David is chosen by God. Why is God not stopping Absalom from his evil acts? I don’t know, but I know that David in his stress turns to God and he finds God’s “wings” of protection around him.

7 Because you are my help,
       I sing in the shadow of your wings.

    8 My soul clings to you;
       your right hand upholds me.

I don’t understand why the 1988 earthquake happened in Armenia. I understand it geologically, but I cannot understand why it happened to our nation, who has seen enough suffering. One thing also I saw later, how God opened the door for the Gospel to reach our nation after the earthquake. Along with the humanitarian aid from all over the world, thousand of Bibles and many preachers entered our country, and Diaspora was in close contact with our brothers and sisters for the first time in 70 years…

Earthquake is not good and cannot turn into good. But God can bring things together, for those who LOVE HIM.

3- Good things are a PROMISE.

We usually quote the 28th verse but we should not forget the word “for” - the first word of verse 29.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,”

The little word for explains what is meant by ‘good things.”

God does not promise you better life situations if you love Him. However, he promises you a better life. This is joy and happiness that are not related with life circumstances.                                                                                                        -Like David, his life was miserable, yet he found satisfaction and protection in God’s love (hasad).                                                                                    

-Like Paul, he was arrested in jail, yet nothing could separate him from love of God.

Listen carefully: Jesus Christ did not suffer so that you would not suffer. He suffered so that when you suffer, you’ll become like him. This is better life: to be like Jesus. #isovsi hasagin [a’in hasnim:

Let me quote verse 29 again: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

I like to go over two important words: predestined and conformed.

Paul uses the word predestined. It is used here not to explain the doctrine of predestination, but to tell us that something is fixed and will not be changed. That “something” is that we will be transformed and be like Jesus. We are predestined to be conformed.

The second word is CONFORMED. The Greek word is “summorphos.” The root is morpha, from which we have derived metamorphosis. (Gyrbaranagix in Armenian) . In the Armenian translation we read:  we will be transformed to the form of Jesus. ( Ir Ortiin badgyrin gyrbaranagix ):

You see we are predestined to be like Jesus. This is it. This is the “good” that we are talking about. To be a Christian is to become like Jesus. This means his characteristics will be in us everyday. Everyday something will be changed. We will learn to love like Jesus,                                                                                 to talk like Jesus,                                                                                                  to have compassion like Jesus,                                                                                to resist temptation like Jesus,                                                                              to have the mind of Jesus.

The good that is promised by God is our transformation to be like Christ. This is the ultimate GOOD.

Things will happen. Bad things will happen. They are not from God, but things will come. We need to keep our loyalty to love God in ALL circumstances. It is not easy, yet it is possible.

The outcome is a promise that God will bring everything together. This is a promise of Joy and Happiness.

Let us look at our life from this perspective. Am I loving God so He can transform, in my bad and good days, to be LIKE JESUS?

Amen