Working Behind the Scenes
“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.” Romans 8:28
As a believer in Jesus Christ, I know that the above verse is true. It is a very big promise made by God to all of His children. This promise basically tells us that believers, that is all who have answered the call to place their faith in Christ and thus have repented and turned from sin and self-righteous living, have a clear understanding that all, and all means all, situations that come about in our lives will work out for our benefit and for God’s plan and purpose that He has intended from the very beginning. That is quite a mouthful!
However, there comes a time now and then when it is very difficult to understand this verse in the context of our daily lives. All things that happen to us may not seem good at the time. Matter of fact, some things are terrible. We don’t always understand the specifics of things that happen to us along the highway of life. Why did my loved one have to die at such a young age? Why doesn’t my spouse love me anymore? Why was my child born with a serious birth defect? Why was I, the hard worker that I am, the one who is always on time and puts forth 110% effort, be the one to get laid off? Why are we having this COVID-19 pandemic? And thousands of other unanswerable questions.
No human has the answer to these perplexing questions. Sometimes believers, when confronted by hardships and tragedies, go to God in prayer and ask why these things had to happen. (We rarely ask why when good and pleasant things are happening.) Most of the time, we do not get an answer to our query, at least, not right away. Neither I nor anyone that I know have been able to understand the purpose for the situation which caused great grief, worry, sadness, and/or loss immediately or shortly after the hurtful event occurred. But sometimes, after things settle down and the person affected has had time to reflect and see what has come about since that time, he or she may begin to get a little insight into the event that disrupted their lives so. Other times, though, the answer and/or understanding never comes, at least not in this lifetime.
Accepting what God ordains in one’s life doesn’t mean one has to like it. I accept the fact that my husband and my son were both called away by the Lord to enter heaven. I miss them terribly, and I don’t like the fact that they are not here, but I know that they are in a perfect place with perfect health and wouldn’t come back to this old sin-cursed world even if they could. I know that God had a purpose for calling them when He did, and we are all slated to be called by Him sooner or later.
Whatever situations that you and I are facing now, we must believe and trust that God is working behind the scenes to fulfill His plan for our lives. We will be able to look back one day and see that all that happened in our lives really did work out for our good.