“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.”
(Romans 8:28)
This week, we’re focusing especially on reasons to be thankful in all circumstances. Today I am giving thanks to God that He is working all things for good.
Is God with me in the hard times? Is He involved at all? When we are facing difficult challenges, it’s very easy to answer those questions in the negative. After all, if God were with me, I wouldn’t be in this situation, right?
This verse assures us that God is indeed at work. Just because we cannot readily see His work does not mean that He is not in fact at work in all the events going on. If we take seriously that God is not only all-loving and all-powerful, but also all-wise, it stands to reason that we will never be able to comprehend all that God is doing.
The story of Joseph in Genesis is a good example of this. It certainly seemed as though God had abandoned Joseph: Being sold by His brothers, whisked away to a foreign land, serving as a slave, wrongly accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and being forgotten in prison for years. Where is God? Why has God abandoned Joseph? But later in the story, Joseph told his brothers that God was in fact at work in all of it. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). It’s amazing to consider that God even uses the free will evil decisions of people to carry out His purpose. Certainly He is a God beyond our comprehension.
And this same God is at work in our lives and the lives of others. He is the all-wise and all-powerful and all-loving Lord of All. And it gives great comfort to consider that He is indeed at work in the struggles that we face. We may never understand it fully, but as Christians, we embrace the future not only based on what God has done, but on what He has promised.
Thanks be to God, who is at work in our lives today!
What are you thankful for today?
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