Romans 8:28
“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.”
Why, do I like this verse?
The answer to that is because no matter what God has allowed into the lives of someone who loves Him, He will work it out for good in his time.
Sometimes, God allows us to go through some very hard things. Only later on down the road may we see why. Then too we may only understand in part. Or as Job we may not see why in this life.
I mention Job, because Job went through so much. One major trauma right after another, some things beginning on the very same day. Such as the loss of all his children, and material wealth. Then later he lost his health. Then when he’d lost everything, he had three friends who came to “comfort and encourage “him. However, their comforting and encouraging him ended the moment they opened their mouths, as they accused him of perhaps having some secret sin. That God was judging him for.
Job, however, knew that to his own knowledge he’d not sinned against God. That he had been living his life in such a way as to honor God and had even stated “…the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. Job 1:21 b”
Job made this statement just as some of the most horrible things that can happen to anyone happened. Forget about the material wealth, he just lost ten children. Seven sons, and three daughters, all in one day.
Losing a child just one child is a horrible experience. Losing a child for any reason is hard whether it is due to an early miscarriage, a later miscarriage, or a stillbirth, or because of an illness, or because of a tragedy. There is no way to sugar-coat the death of a child. It’s painful.
If the child’s death is expected because of some terminal illness, there may be some time to adjust and to say goodbye.
Job, did not have any opportunity to say goodbye to his children though. Instead he was given this news and other bad news in rapid succession. If he’d had of said anything bad about or towards God, then Satan would have been able to say that Job was trusting in the material gains God had given him.
Job, trusted God though, and he believed that even this horrible day God would use for good in His time. Job did not try to understand why or question God at this point, instead he stated that God had given to him and had taken from him. Even when his wife suggested that he curse God and die he did not.
*Note you have to remember Job’s wife was also hurting, as these were also her children who were taken. Losing even one child suddenly is very, very hard, but to lose ten all at once? This to me would be the equivalent of having a boulder land on my heart and the ground being swept out from under me all at once. Of being suffocated or drowning all at once.
When I lost my third son due to a second trimester miscarriage that hit me very hard. Losing several other babies due to early miscarriage did not make the loss of the first one any easier. Nor did it make the death of my eighteen year old son any less traumatic, than the babies I lost due to miscarriages.
Losing a child is traumatic, losing all of your children at once is shattering. But Job remembered that it was the Lord who had given him these children, and the Lord who had taken them.
He remembered it was the Lord who had blessed him with material wealth and possessions. Even in his deepest pain he set for us who would come later an example of trusting God when life does not make sense.
Job was not given the knowledge that we have of the conversation that Satan had with the Lord concerning himself. All he knew was his children had been taken, and his material possessions were gone. He did not know when this happened if or when God would restore all that was taken from him. Nor did he know that God would bless him with twice as much of everything. Plus give him ten more children. All of this was given to Job, but not before God had allowed many very hard things into Job’s life.
When we are going through very hard circumstance we may not know the why, but God does. What God allows in the lives of those who love Him, may not be the things we’d willingly place in our lives, but we can trust that God will use whatever He allows for good, for those who love him.
Sometimes the reason may only be to draw us closer to Him. Other times the reasons may be for someone else. Maybe a hard circumstance in our lives is because of sin, maybe it’s not. Maybe our circumstance is being watched by someone who is waiting to see if we will turn our back on God.
Maybe we are the only light available to someone who needs to “see” that God is real. Real even when life circumstances are very, very difficult. When we have every reason from a worldly perspective to turn away.
God gave us himself in order that we might live, but he did not do this without pain.
God never allows pain into the life of those who love him without it is for a reason, and then only for a season. When we go through hard things our focus sharpens, and we can see those around us who are alone and without God much more clearly.
Some are only won to Christ when they “see” that we who are saved still believe God when our circumstances change.
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