THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
Romans 8:28
What does Romans 8:28 mean? This verse is often quoted in very adverse circumstances as though it meant that everything that happens is good. The implication is that everything that happens works for the good of everybody involved. This is not the truth stated by this verse.

This verse does not suggest that we live in a mechanical universe in which everything just naturally works out for good. This verse does not declare that the famines in the world will work for the good of men. This verse does not say that the tornadoes, cyclones, recessions, and depressions that occur will all work out for good. This world is not a mechanical universe in which everything just naturally works that way. There is a good bit of freedom as to how things work in our world. Some of them turn out wrong, very wrong for the people involved.

Nor does this verse declare that all things are working for the good of everyone. Not everyone can claim this great statement as applying to their lives. Actually it applies to only a very limited number of people. If it does apply to you, the truth which it states is a most precious truth. What is the affirmation of the verse?

IN HIS PROVIDENTIAL CARE GOD WORKS ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM
Before we move very far in our study of the providence of God, we need to consider the limitation God has placed on it. This is not a universal statement. God does not work all things for the good of everyone. Rather the statement is true only of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.

Actually these two statements just place before us a Christian. Who is a Christian? From the human side he is one who loves God. From the divine side he is one who has been called according to God's purpose. This then states that the providential care of God is directed toward the true Christian, His children.

From the human perspective, a Christian is one who loves God. The word would suggest primarily that he is one who places supreme value upon God. It does not suggest as much affection and emotion as it does what is first in a man's life. It is the word used in the supreme commandment for us to "love God" with body, soul, and might. How do you tell if a man is a Christian? Try to find out what kind of place he gives to God in his life.

From the divine perspective, a Christian is one who has been called according to God's purpose. This means that he is one upon whom God has set His heart. He has responded to the divine initiative. He is the chosen of God. We will explore this a little more next week, but it does mean that they are the chosen of God. They are not Christians just because they chose God, but because God chose them. The sign that you are one of these chosen of God is that you have heard the call of the Gospel and have responded to that call of the Gospel in faith.

This is the limitation that God has chosen to place upon His providential care. Actually He is making all things work together for the ultimate destruction and condemnation of those who do not love Him and have not been called according to His purpose. Only those who belong to Him know this kind of work in their lives. If you are a true Christian, then you can know that God has committed Himself to work on your behalf according to the truth set forth in this text.

This is the most concise statement found in the entire Bible of the providence of God. This verse affirms that God providentially works in everything that happens to make good come out of whatever may happen in the life of His people. Let us break this truth down. We need to consider carefully each part of the statement. This great truth is stated as another reason we should fully expect the glorification of God's children regardless of what happens to them.

The subject of the verse is God. God is the worker ‑‑‑ not all things. This is not made clear in the common version. While not all of the manuscripts have the name of "God" in the verse as the subject of the sentence, enough of them do to make it the accepted reading. But even if the name of God is not included, the idea is still present. In Providence God is working carefully and faithfully for the good of His people.

IN HIS PROVIDENTIAL CARE GOD WORKS THROUGH "ALL THINGS''
''And we know that all things work together for good." This certain knowledge involves a matter of principle. Paul is not appealing to experience, but to observation and study. A study of the Old Testament and an observation of the ways of God in the lives of others will reveal the principle that God uses "all things" to work out good.

Just how broad should we make this "all things"? The context might limit it to the things of suffering and trial. These were certainly the primary things in the mind of the Apostle. They would certainly include the list given later in the chapter. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" On the surface, that could be a rather frightening and contemporary list. This then would affirm that God is pleased to make afflictions, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and the sword turn out for good in the life of His people.
But God is not limited to working through the hurtful things that happen to us in life. He also works through the good things that happen to us. In my life God has surely worked through my marriage to Alice for fifty years for my good. God has surely worked through the four sons and fourteen grandchildren that he has given to us for our good. Just having them with me has made me a better man. They have been the instrument of God for my good.

The kind of instruments God can use is a revelation of His creativity and grace. Some notable examples are found in the Scriptures of the ways God uses "all things". In order to preserve the nation of Israel, in the days of Jacob, He used some strange instruments. He used the envy and hatred of the sons of Jacob against their younger brother Joseph. He used their treacherous deed of selling him to be a slave. He used the deceitful lie of a crooked wife of an Egyptian official Potiphar. He used the strange dream of an Egyptian servant and the baffling dream of an Egyptian Pharoah. They were strange things, but God used them for both the good of Joseph and the family of Jacob.

In the life of the Apostle Paul we find another notable example of this. God uses the wrath of a Jerusalem mob, the faulty administration of a Roman official, and a terrible imprisonment as the means of getting Paul, His servant, to the world's most important city as a witness. So when he says "all things", he means just that. All things! The all things of natural calamity! The all things of spiritual oppression! The all things of injustice at the hands of others! The all things of personal privation and failure! God makes "all things" work! You may survey your life, take the worst things involved in your life, and place them in the statement for the "all things". They are the instruments, the means that God uses in His providential care.

IN HIS PROVIDENTIAL CARE GOD WORKS FOR "GOOD''
Again, we need to be careful of our definition. What does the Apostle mean by "good"? Unless you understand what he means by "good", you will not understand the providential care of God for His own. We can dismiss at once the popular definitions of good. Modern man defines the good in very materialistic terms. Good is having plenty to eat, a nice home, fine clothing, and a nice nest egg in the bank. Good is having a secure job and good health. Good is having a life free from frustrations and problems. It is obvious that not everything is working out for that kind of "good".

To understand the ultimate good that God is working for in our lives we need to look at the next verse. There we read "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren". This sets before us the thing that was in the mind of God from all eternity. This ultimate good is our being conformed to the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus. It is moral and spiritual good. It is good character that God has in view. This is an affirmation then that God is at work using "all things" to bring us into a closer conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of this ultimately goes on to bring glory to God through Christ, as He is acknowledged as the firstborn among many brethren. The "firstborn" is the one who occupies the first place, the place of honor in the family. Though we are spiritually His brethren, and co‑heirs with Him in the family of God, our becoming like Him is to bring a much‑deserved honor and praise to Him.

Does that deflate you a little? If it does, it indicates that you have been living with a wrong set of values. The number one thing for the true Christian should be to be like Christ in character and to be able to bring honor to His worthy name. This is the thing by which we measure success or failure in the kingdom of God. The thing that matters in this world is not how much of this world you acquire, how healthy you are, or even how happy you are. The thing that matters most is how much like Christ you become. This is the good thing God is working out in your life.

What is the conclusion of the whole matter? Who could state it better than Paul? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" This truth of the providential care of God is one of the most encouraging truths I know anything about. This means that I can face every trial, every experience of suffering with the assurance that God is going to work in whatever happens to make it turn out for my spiritual good. Knowing this, facing life in the light of this will mean inner peace and tranquility for each true believer.

This also means that God will not allow anything to defeat that which He set out to do in our lives. It does not depend upon us, but upon Him. Thank God, that the load has been lifted from our shoulders and placed upon His.