Good

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.

Here is a promise that transforms the way we face the good, the bad, and the failings of life.

First, it leads us to gratitude and joy, even for the “routine”good things in life. Notice, Paul does not say that “things”work together for good by themselves! Only God makes the factors of life turn to our good. We don’t expect things in life to “work for good” of their own accord.... When we find things working out beneficially for us, it is all of God, all of grace, all of him. When things work out, Christians never say: Of course—that’s as it should be! Rather, they praise God for it.

But second, this truth removes general fear and anxiety when life “goes wrong.” We know it hasn’t gone wrong at all! If God “works” in “all things,” it means his plan includes what we would call “little” or “senseless” things. Ultimately, there are no accidents. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (Proverbs 16: 33). God is working even in the flips of a coin.

Further, this helps us see God’s purpose in difficulties. If God is working for our “good”in everything, then we see that both the good things and the bad things serve the purpose of furthering the good in our life. This wonderful text leads to the following logical deduction made by the 18th-century pastor and hymn-writer John Newton:

“Everything is needful that he sends; nothing can be needful that he withholds.”

Thus, if we think we require some good thing that God has withheld from us, in reality we don’t absolutely need it. It also means that if we feel our life has been ruined by some bad thing, in reality it is playing some very important role in our lives. It is teaching us, molding us, enriching us, humbling us, and so on. Romans 8: 28 teaches us to look at life’s troubles as part of God’s loving purpose for us.

It is not as important to change our circumstances as it is to change our heart’s attitude and stance toward them. It is only if we believe, meditate on and live out of Romans 8: 28 that we will be able to meet with triumph and disaster, and treat them both the same: viewing them as circumstances that, as we love the God who has called us to know him as Father, he will work in and through for our ultimate good.

(Tim Keller, Romans For You)

Keller's point about things "going wrong" has been really helpful to me. So often my plans have to change, people show up at unexpected and quite frankly "wrong" moments. The other day guests had left after dinner, we were clearing up and I was looking forward to my bed but then a family phoned saying they were coming over for a visit. We then had to quickly get things ready for them and they stayed until really late. I was actually deep down pretty upset with God. Why did he let my plan go wrong? Why couldn't he have stopped them phoning and coming over? He knew how tired I was and what a busy day we'd had. But this is exactly what God wanted to happen for my good- to show up my sin, to show me I still want to be in control. A family turned up the other day after school- it was wrong timing- I'd planned things for that slot! But this helps me to see that my plans hadn't gone wrong at all- it was all in God's good plan for me!