And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.This verse in no way says that God will only bring us good things. But that's how it is used and claimed today, and it's so wrong.
I want to make sure I continually emphasize the important of reading the Bible in context. To take a verse here or there and apply it as you want is to create a false religion that is based on selfish wants and desires. God does not exist to please you. You exist to please Him. Our theology is upside down when we search the Bible looking for verses that justify us or make us "feel better." That is not what the Bible is for.
So before I go back to Romans, what is the Bible for? What is your answer to that? I would say that the Bible exists to point us to God - through history, stories, songs, letters, poetry, visions. Every single word in the Bible is about God - not Moses, Abraham, John the Baptist or Paul. It's the story of God. It's truth. It's life.
So what is Romans 8:28 about, anyway? Let's look at the verse in the context of the passage. Romans 8 is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. It's actually the first place I send someone new to the Word. I don't ask them to read an entire book, I just say to start with a chapter. Because this is an extraordinary one! It starts with "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" to "Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" to "If God is for us, who can be against us?" to nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What hope!
But specifically, let's look at the ten verses that precede 28:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
You see, the context of this passage isn't about us. It's about God. It means that though we are suffering - whether through our choices or others' - God will make that suffering good. Not because we deserve it. Not because we are worthy. Only because God himself is good.
Be careful in allowing yourself to define what good is. A child who is sick, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job - those things are not good on the surface. Only God - the source of good - can take the difficult, sometimes downright horrible circumstances of our lives and turn them into circumstances of holiness and redemption.
Remember the promise Isaiah shared with Israel:
To all who mourn in Israel he will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.God doesn't necessarily give us good things. He makes our things good. And that's huge difference.
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