When It All Makes Sense - Pastor Stacey Shiflett
When It All Makes Sense
Romans 8:28 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.
Intro: There are many things that happen to a child of God that we don’t understand.
We don’t know why it is happening.
Many times, we don’t even know WHAT is happening.
One of the truths I have discovered in my Christian life is that everything happens for a reason.
· Romans 8:28 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.
A. The Confidence — “And we know”
We may not know WHAT He is doing, but we can know WHO is doing it.
Nothing happens to a child of God by accident.
Nothing happens to a child of God without His approval. (Job)
Nothing happens to a child of God without a purpose.
B. The Condition — “to them that love God”
This promise is not given to everyone.
It is specifically addressed to those who love God.
NOTE: God also works in the life of the unsaved to bring them to the truth.
God was working on Saul long before he got saved on the road to Damascus.
C. The Coordination – “all things work together for good”
Many times, we try to apply Romans 8:28 to one single event in our life.
And almost always, it is when we are going through a difficult time or a trial.
We misinterpret the verse to mean that this bad thing is actually a good thing.
That is not what this verse says.
It says that all things work together.
God orchestrates every event in our life to produce the final produce that He desires.
All things – coordinated and orchestrated by God – working together is for our good.
D. The Calling — “to them who are the called according to his purpose”
What happens in our lives is connected to a divine purpose.
God is working toward something.
What looks confusing from our perspective makes perfect sense from the standpoint of His purpose.
We cannot know in advance what is coming.
Most of the time it is a surprise.
Sometimes, God let’s us see it down here.
· John 12:16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
Some things won’t make sense until we get to Heaven.
· 1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
The songwriter wrote: Farther along we’ll know all about it, Farther along we’ll understand why; Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine, We’ll understand it all by and by.
Part 2
ILLUSTRATION: Joseph
· Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
There is no way that Joseph understood this fact for many years.
· When he was hated and threatened with death.
· When he was stripped of his coat and thrown in a pit.
· When he was sold to the caravan.
· When he was bought by Potiphar and made a slave.
· When he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and imprisoned.
· When he was neglected and forgotten in the prison by the very people he helped.
But there came a day when the light came on.
There came a day when all of his problems and conflicts suddenly made sense.
There came a time when he realized that everything he had gone through was preparation for a promotion.
The day that he was brought out of the prison to explain the dreams of Pharaoh, his life changed.
But this was not a random change.
It was the culmination of a process that took years.
It was the climax of a plan that God started in his life way back when he was seventeen years old.
This was the fulfillment of the dreams he had as a teenager when his family mocked him and hated him.
