January 19
Together for Good
"…The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away… And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
The sun was just beginning to set above the trees as day was giving way to the fall of night. There before me were four headstones bearing the painful reminder of four young lives that had been snatched away too soon carrying with it such sorrow that one could hardly bear to remember its happening. My words to the Father in those moments of remembrance were; "How can anything good come from this?" It was just like every other morning, a rushed morning wrapped in stress as she fixed the boys their breakfast, packed their lunches before heading them out the door to school. There were four boys, the oldest sixteen who would drive his brothers to school every morning since getting his license. They never saw the eighteen wheeler coming as they pulled out in front of it to cross over the highway. A mother had lost all four of her sons that morning, a tragedy so unthinkable that no one could fathom the reality of it. Where was the good in it?
Where do we turn when our lives are ripped apart, shattered without warning? How do we find peace and comfort when the pain is crushing and the loss unbearable? Where do we find refuge when we are hopeless, and the anguish of soul so excruciating that it despairs unto death? Healing would seem an impossibility in the eyes of human reasoning for who could endure such a loss let alone recover. There is a man that I know of who suffered the loss of everything and all of his children in one day and recovered to live life more abundantly than ever before; whose future days following his season of loss, were greater than his former ones. His name was Job. What was Job’s secret? It’s the truth found in Romans 8:28 which tells us, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
It’s not in some things that God will cause for good, but He will use "all" things…that’s "all" things, beloved. Look further with me and note the words, "work together". Each thing if left on its own is not good, but when it is taken and woven together with the other they become a beautiful masterpiece when God is finished. One isolated event of tragedy, when viewed by itself alone, may stand only as a monument of undue pain and suffering. But take that same tragic event and weave into it all the events in our lives and the monument of suffering becomes a tower of praise unto God. We must remember that there is a greater picture being drawn out by the hand of God, with such purpose and skill, with kindness in every line and mark, even if it’s painful.
You are His masterpiece of grace and mercy that will adorn the streets of glory someday. And as the passerby stops to gaze at its beauty they will see that each stroke of God’s hand blended together so beautifully, so masterfully, that if one stroke were missing, it would have been destroyed. He knows the intended picture He’s drawing, the ending to your story He’s writing, and they are more brilliant than anything our feeble minds could ever comprehend this side of glory. His intended purpose is not to bring forth pain but it’s to unearth the beauty veiled within the earthen vessel. God takes in order to give. He breaks in order to make whole. He brings us through the valley that He may stand us upon the mountain. He leads us to the desert land to give us living waters, and He inflicts in order to heal. Yield to the hand of the artist and your life, the good and bad, will in the end reflect the beauty and skill of the Master.
Make my life a portrait of who You are.
Pearls of Grace is a book of devotions for the entire year, including a read through the Bible in a year calendar, broken down for every day. Beautifully written with encouraging words of hope and empowering words of joy and strength for every woman. Pam draws from the truth and richness of God's Word and gives real life examples in her down to earth style. A must have in your library, click here for more information.
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