“It happened for a reason,” we like to say. “For a good reason,” we mean. This sentiment might console us when hardship strikes, but does it stick? It rests on a vague idea that something or someone orchestrates life for good.

What we find in Romans 8:28 echoes our popular sentiment, but it’s more precise:

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. (NIV)

God works out everything for the good of his children in the end. God’s end goal—his purpose—for those “who love him” will only make sense to us if we look at his work from the very beginning.

In the first verse of Romans 8, we hear about the beginning of God’s work in the lives of those who love him. God’s Spirit breaks sin’s power in the lives of those who understand they have rebelled against God and trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of their sins.

This wonderful freedom from the presence of sin does not start after death. For all who believe in Jesus, God starts undoing the presence and power of sin in their lives now. Here’s how.

Romans 8 lists some scary things—things we must be real about. Our world is riddled and soaked in pain—famine, nakedness, and danger, the looming future, and impending death (Romans 8:35). Such things are the Lord’s tools, his furnace, his pressing hand to mold those who love him out of their unshapeliness caused by sin, to rid them of the dross fed to them by the world, and to conform their nature to the likeness of God himself.

We must not forget, in this more severe work, what sweet work God has already accomplished by his wonderful Spirit.

God plans to make each one of his children like his Son, Jesus. And God’s children are those who put their trust in Jesus Christ. For “to all who did receive him [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13 NIV).

God’s purpose to make his people like Jesus is going to take time and, sad to say, trials. But, God works through everything in the lives of his children to complete his work of transforming them into the image of Jesus.

God is totally sovereign over all of life, from the tiny to the traumatic. He works for good, for "there is no wickedness in him” (Psalm 92:15 NIV). He is a good God whose actions are altogether righteous, even when we don’t understand his ways.

Do you want “it happened for a reason” to change from a meaningless sentiment to a secure reality in your life? Do you want a new character, to be transformed out of your failures, fears, and darkest faults, and to know God as your Father?

Continue reading about Romans 8:28 to find out how God works things for his good in your life. Ask God to work in your heart by the Holy Spirit to give you faith in the Lord Jesus and in his promises.

by Bibles.net