One of my all-time favorite verses is Romans 8:28, “For we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” I know that lots of people love this verse and claim it as their favorite. However, do we realize its profound truth, nothing happens in our lives or in the world that God does not allow? God is sovereign and in-control. He’s never lost control. He had to give Satan permission to inflict Job. And He did this because He knew that Job would trust Him and that his faith would grow. And it sure did! God ended up restoring all that Job had lost and even more! And He will do the same for us. He's all about redeeming pain.
God doesn’t allow any trial, challenge or suffering in our life that He doesn’t plan on using for good. He’s the Cosmic Recycler. I shared this with a client recently and she got “that” look across her face. She did not want to believe me and said that she would be researching this and getting back to me. I haven’t heard back from her yet. But how can she refute this? If this is not true, how do we explain how an all-powerful God stands back and allows evil to happen? Is He impotent to effect change? God is not surprised by anything that happens to us. Things don’t just slip by when He’s not looking. When my husband lost his job in 2008, God didn’t go, “Oh my goodness!! How did that happen? What are Steve and Juliet going to do?” He knows everything; the beginning, the end and the middle.
Say tuned next month for the story about how God used my husband's lay off to bless our family beyond our wildest imagination!
