Verse
VERSE

Romans 8:28

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. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

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It Happened For a Reason

“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 

Compare Versions

ESV

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

CSB

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

NLT

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

NIV

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.

KJV

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

NKJV

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

Article: 6 Min

What Does Romans 8:28 Mean?

by Bibles.net

Image

For those whom he foreknew
he also predestined
to be conformed
to the image of his Son.

ROMANS 8:29 ESV
Article: 30 Min

The True Christian’s Blessedness

by Charles Spurgeon at the Spurgeon Center, 1857

Videos

Article: 20 Min

The Christian’s Happiness

by Tim Keller at Monergism

Verse
Psalm 34:8 NIV

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 

Image

From him
and
through him and to him

 
are all things. 

Romans 11:36 ESV
Article: 7 Min

Do All Things Work Together for Good?

by Adrian Rogers at The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Quote

The joy and the misery,
the battle and the victory,
the storm and the calm, 
all these compounded make that
sacred elixir
whereby
God makes all his people
perfect through suffering. 
 

Article: 30 Min

Why All Things Work for Good

by Thomas Watson at Monergism

Image

You are good 
and you
do good

Psalm 119:68 NKJV
Article: 6 Min

God Works for Your Good

by Bibles.net

Article: 5 Min

The Most Misinterpreted Verse About Faith in the Bible

by Paul David Tripp at his blog

Verse
ROMANS 5:3-5 NIV

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 

Message: 47 Min

Romans 8:28-30

by Al Mohler 

Verse
Ephesians 1:11-12 ESV

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 

Quote

Can Christians Experience Tragedies?

If God is able to make everything that happens to us work together for our good, then ultimately everything that happens to us is good. We must be careful to use the word ultimately. On the earthly plane things that happen to us may indeed be evil… Yet God in His goodness transcends all these things and works them out to our good. For the Christian, ultimately, there are no tragedies. 

by R.C. Sproul

Choral

These Great Things: Glory to the Holy One Concert

by Ligonier Ministries
Quote

Directly or indirectly,
every providence has a tendency
to the spiritual good of those that love God
,
breaking them off from
sin, bringing them nearer
to God, weaning them
from the world, fitting
them for heaven.
 

Children’s

All Things Work Together For Good - Romans 8:28

by Steve Green
Article: 15 Min

Does God Work All Things Together for Our Good?

by Sarah Walton at Open the Bible

Quote

O Father,
you are sovereign,
the Lord of
human pain,

transmuting
early sorrows to

gold of heavenly gain.
All evil over-ruling,
as none but
Conqueror could,

your love pursues
its purpose—

our souls' eternal good.

Quote

What Does Romans 8:28 Have to Do With Buttermilk Biscuits?

While growing up in Texas, I enjoyed my mother's buttermilk biscuits made from "scratch" every morning for breakfast. But there was not a single ingredient in those biscuits that I would have enjoyed by itself. And even after they were mixed together, I would not have cared for the raw biscuit dough. Only after they were mixed together in the right proportions by my mother's skillful hands and then subjected to the fire of the oven were they ready to be enjoyed for breakfast. 
The "things" in Romans 8:28 are like the ingredients of the biscuit dough. By themselves they are not tasteful to us. We shun them. And we certainly shun the heat of the oven. But when God in his infinite skill has blended them all together and cooked them properly in the oven of adversity, we shall one day say, it is good. 

by Jerry Bridges | Source
Article: 15 Min

All Things for Good for Us

It is essential for your spiritual survival that you know and apply what the Bible teaches about trials. Romans 8:28 is one of the most familiar verses on this subject.

by Steven J. Cole at Bible.org

Image

As for you, you meant evil against me, but
God meant it for good

Genesis 50:20 ESV
Article: 10 Min

Letter to a Suffering Friend, September 28, 1774

by John Newton

Quote

God never
allows pain

without a purpose
 
in the lives of his children. 
 

Verse
1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.” 

Quote

Everything
that is and is done,
worketh out some
great end and purpose.

The great machine
of this world is
not only in motion,
but there is something
weaving in it,

which as yet mortal eye
hath not fully seen
,
which our text hints at
when it says,
it is working out
for God’s people. 

Verse
Romans 8:32 ESV

He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

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