This is one of those clichés that gets bantered about quite
often in Christian circles, especially when things are not so good. It all
comes from Romans 8:28 which states:
We are confident that God is able
to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when
we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan.
These are not comforting words when you have lost a love one
or find out you are terminal. Sometimes it’s hard to see if anything will work
out for the good when you suddenly become confined to a wheel chair. No these
words when given at the right time are like salt in the wound and are bitter to
take. As people “dishing” out this advice we need to be careful on how and when
we use it so not to get people mad at God.
At the same time this is something we can cling to when
things are down and out. I look at my financial woes. Since 2000 we have had good
times and bad financially from a loss of a job to paying of intense debt. We
almost went bankrupt yet on the other side some 15 years later we are exactly
where we want to be and that is awesome! We have been on a wild ride, yet
everything has worked in His glory.
At the same time I watched a close friend have his son
confined to a wheel chair while snow skiing. What was wonderful family time has
turned his family upside down. Through this I still wonder how Romans 8:28
works. Or with another close friend who has lived a life of torture from their
father and his friends. Their body is constantly sick and broken due to all
that was done to them. It seems there is no way “good” will come of this, but
we still cling to it.
I think the whole thing needs to be looked at in context
from Romans 8:26-30 to really get a good idea. I will not print the whole text
yet if you look at it you see how prayer is the key to the underlying premise.
Paul says we may not know how to pray or even what to pray, yet God will change
our “groaning too profound for words.”
I really think the key to life is twofold; first we may not
always be able to see the path God wants us on. We just need to have faith that
the road we are traveling will continue even though we cannot see past where
our headlamps illuminate. Second is that shit just happens (excuse the “French”)
but we live in a world where free will and chance live along with God’s will.
If we end up in a ditch often it’s our bad decisions that cause it and often it’s
others who mess up taking us down with them. It’s not God, it’s life!! God is
not sitting on the ant-hill we call earth with His celestial magnifying glass
watching us pop with glee. No that is something we can do just fine without His
provocation, thank you.
The key is through the mess and mire He will try to
make the best of every mess up we make, if not just to teach us a lesion not to
touch the fire. We need to pray and stay connected so when the bad happens, we
will have faith that all will be good. Also, we will be connected with God and
hopefully make wise decisions so that God will not have to clean up after us!!
I think the great thing with the Bible and many stories we hear is they help us
not to repeat the mistakes of others. I use to say “I’d rather learn from “your”
mistakes than mine”!!