Romans 8:28 is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible: “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.” It came up in my Sunday school lesson this week, so I wanted to research it more. For many people, this verse is a source of tremendous hope. But for others, it just creates more questions and doubts.
There are good reasons people like this verse and think a lot about it. It’s because we all suffer. We all experience hardships, some of them almost unbearable, and most of us who believe in God want to know what God’s relationship is to that suffering. Did God cause our suffering? Does he sympathize with us in our suffering? Can he do anything about our suffering?
I read it again and it says in all things, but it does not say each thing. If we look at the sum of all things in our life, God will use these events and weave them with every other aspect of our lives to produce what He knows to be the best for us. How many of you have baked a cake or a batch of cookies? Think of each of the ingredients and how they would taste by themselves. They are not very tasty. Now blend them all together in the right proportions and what do you get? A sweet dessert. The individual ingredients of trials and apparent tragedies that come into our lives are neither “delicious” nor desirable. In fact, at first taste, they are often very bland or even bitter. But God (shall I call Him the Master Baker?) is capable of carefully measuring out and mixing up these ingredients to produce a final product that is truly good.
If we back up a couple of verses to verses 26-27, we read, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Do you run out of questions, feel they are not answered or do not know what will give you comfort from the pain? The Holy Spirit will step in on your behalf.
The Holy Spirit will know the lacking ingredient in God’s recipe. We must trust God to put everything together in our lives, in His timing, to produce our best. Pray for patience in waiting for the process to play out for we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Thomas, you did a good job explaining Romans 8:28. This Bible verse can be hard to understand during tough times, but it makes sense when we look at the “big picture.” Thank you for the clarification.