“All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” One of the reasons that this verse appeals to us is because it supplies a remedy for despair and discouragement. But does this verse offer good to everyone? Take this verse to Herod as he dies his horrible death, eaten of worms, and see if comforts him. Take it to Jezebel or Athaliah and ask whether it consoles them as dogs lick up their blood spilt all over the pavement. Ask the rich man of Luke 16 whether it comforts him in his torment. In fact, present this verse to the backslidden, flesh-ridden, sin-loving professing Christian, and it may not give him much comfort either. There is no blessing here for the weak and wishy-washy Christian.
This verse is: UNLIMITED in its scope. It is HARMONIOUS in its design, and BENEVOLENT in Purpose. And yet it is LIMITED in its application. What a wonderful statement that the Apostle Paul has made for some of the people of this earth.
All things work together for good ONLY for those who LOVE GOD. Unfortunately, a lot of people go crazy in their definition of “God.” But this does not mean that we can go to the phone book and pick a church and God at random. There is only one God in Paul’s mind when he writes these words. He’s talking about Jehovah, the God whom the Hebrews had been worshiping for centuries. But it’s with the added feature – this is the God who was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Boiling off the extra vocabulary, we’re talking about love for God through the Lord Jesus. We see the reverse of this love expressed later in the chapter. Nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No ungodly man loves Christ. He may love his image and imaginary god, but that is not the Lord. Jehovah hates sin and all unrighteousness. Furthermore, just because someone is religious, it doesn’t mean that he loves the one true and living God.
And this love is a major test and trial. Remember that these Roman Christians were suffering persecution for professing Christ to be God. Paul could have been speaking for them all when he said, “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” The people to whom Paul was writing were yearning for the deliverance, the adoption of their bodies. But how difficult is it to prove that you love God when He has permitted the loss of everything you own? Can you love God even when he could have spared your only son, but chose let him die? Can you love God when all the world seems against you? Can you love God when every drop of rain seems filled with acid, devouring life? How many of the Psalms, which speak of these things, seem remote and unrelated to your experience? “Sure I think that I could love God through all of these things.” Well then, is there any evidence of your love besides this verbal profession? Love is seen in sacrifice: What will you sacrifice for your Saviour? Love is seen in service. How are you serving Christ these days? What specific things are there in your life that glorify His name? Love is seen in surrender and in submission: Not my will, but thine be done. Love is seen in cleanliness – that is living a life striving for holiness. “Beloved, the carnal mind is enmity against God,” exactly the opposite to love. Again I say that the ungodly do not love God – the two words are mutually exclusive. And those who love God are the only ones who may take the promise found in this verse.
Another characteristic of this limited group is that they are THE CALLED OF GOD. That is another way to say, “This is a promise only to God’s elect.” And that is to further say that these people have no personal merit or worthiness. The recipients of this promise are those “whom God hath saved and called with an holy calling, not according to their own works or love, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given them in Christ Jesus before the world began.” This is the only way in which any sinner will ever come to know or love God. We love Him because He first loved us and overcame our hatred against Him.
That leaves us with a question: How many people in world today are “called according to his purpose.” There is not a person on the face of this earth who can answer that question. And our responsibility is not to seek an answer to that question either. It is beyond our ability to see, like certain rays of light to the human eye. However, it is possible to find evidences of that election. For example, the question of love toward God is discernable. You may not be able to judge my love, but your love is somewhat detectable to yourself. Do YOU love Christ?
Let me illustrate this thought with an expectant mother. It appears to my untrained eye that to bring a baby into this world is troublesome. Almost from day #1 there are pains and problems. There are often periods of sickness. There are chemical changes and hormonal imbalances that turn day-to-day life upside down. Maybe some pregnant women think of themselves as beautiful, but they are not universal. As the months go on, walking, sitting, standing and even laying become difficult and uncomfortable. There can be financial stresses with things to be purchased and doctors to be paid. The stress of the pregnancy can affect and even injure other parts of body. And all of this comes before the actual labour and travail of delivery. But once the baby is born there is usually joy and pride of the most wonderful variety. All the difficulties of pregnancy work together for a very good purpose. Like that, it might not be too far out of the way to think of your earthly Christian life as nine months of anticipation for an eternity with God. It’s not preparation for eternity, because our suffering and other experiences do not create or greatly influence eternity. But our life on earth is with the anticipation of another life.
And what exactly are the things that work together for our good? They include every aspect of nature and the environment, large and small. Every blade of grass, every fluffy white cloud and every black cloud work together for our good. They include the hurricane that sweeps through Florida to the zephyr that brushes by the sailboat. I talked, for a few minutes yesterday, to Brother Forrest Keener. He said that his grand-daughter, Betsy, lives next to the sea-wall in Galveston, Texas. Having visited that city, I can assure you that it wouldn’t take much of a storm to wash that whole community into the sea. But even in Galveston, storms work together for good to them that love God. The days when you are well enough to go to work, and those when you were sick, work together. Even the temptations and the blessings, and the effects of sin are overcome by God’s grace. Remember Job and all that he endured – they worked together for good because he was called of God. And think about poor Joseph in Egypt – all his trials worked together for good. And especially in his case we can actually see those good things. They were used of God to bless not only him, but thousands of others as well. Not only should we think about all the tangible and physical parts of our daily circumstances, but we should also think about the spiritual workings of God’s grace. Every sermon, every opportunity, every rebuke, every encouragement, every challenge. “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Paul is not saying that everything is pleasant or that everything is good in itself. He is not saying that the pain of the moment is not real and very painful. He is saying that all things added together are controlled by the Lord to produce good and glory.
I had to snicker as I read of Bernard Gilpin who was sentenced to die for Christ during the reign of Queen Mary. He had learned the principles of this verse and believed them to be true, when things were going well in his life, and when it appeared that the sky was falling in on him. The night before he was to be burned at the stake he repeated this verse over and over again. He sang them out loudly so that even his jailer heard his words. Then the next morning he was led towards his execution, but he stumbled, fell and broke his leg. His jailer was so delighted in his pain that he dragged him back to prison with the intention of letting his leg heal and to burn him to death later. Without any medical treatment, the poor man suffered immensely in that terrible gaol. And the jailer taunted him with the verse he had heard the man quoting from Romans 8. But Bernard Gilpin still clung to it’s precious truth. And then sure enough, one day, just as his leg was almost healed enough to send him back to the death stake, Bloody Mary died. When Elizabeth ascended the throne, Gilpin was set free.
Even in the short term, sometimes evil things can turn to good. Not always is this verse worked out during a man’s life, but when it is, then it points a finger toward eternity and says, “You ain’t seen nuthin yet.”
And the promise is not one of prosperity, or health, or great fortune. The working of all things is towards our purification; towards our growth; towards our glory. We are being prepared for eternity.
How do we know that all things work together for our good? By the grace of God we know these things. We may not know a lot, but we can and should know the love and omniscience of God.
What a glorious blessing is found in this verse: “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”