Can I Trust God To Work It Out For The Good?

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 This is something that can only be realized after walking with the Lord for a long time. Only when one has had the experience of years can he look back and see that truly everything DID work together for the good. That's very hard to acknowledge when you're in the midst of a painful situation, but if you're called according to the purposes of God, it's guaranteed that everything that comes against you HE WILL turn to the good. I remember times in my walk with him that there was no way on earth I could have believed that the circumstances could possibly be worked out for the good, so grave were the circumstances that it seemed totally impossible. Well they were turned to the good and then some! Some of the hardest things were the most freeing and productive, beyond what I could ever have imagined. Consider Joseph, the son of Jacob, whose story is recorded in the Book of Genesis. His brothers hated him and sold him to a band of traders who were going to Egypt. Then they killed an animal and dipped Joseph's coat into its blood, showing their father the blood-soaked coat and telling their father Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Well, Joseph gained favor while in Egypt and was assigned to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard. But Potiphar's wife accused Joseph of trying to rape her, a total lie, and Joseph was thrown into prison. And there he sat for a very long time. Now put yourself in Joseph's place. Sold by family, lost everything, wrongfully accused of rape, wrongfully imprisoned. At what point in the story would you be angry at God? At what point would you give up on the Lord? If someone told you God was going to work it out for good, would you be cynical about that suggestion? After a year in prison? After two years of sitting in prison? But we know the end of the story. Pharaoh had a very disturbing dream and none of his magicians could interpret it - but God gave to Joseph the interpretation of the dream, and Pharaoh was so impressed that Joseph was released from prison and restored as the head over all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself! And - he was placed as minister over all the food supply in Egypt. Then there was a famine back in the land of Canaan, so Joseph's brothers had to go to Egypt to get food, and wouldn't you know, brother Joseph was the one they had to deal with! In the end, the entire family was reunited, his brothers greatly humbled, all was forgiven and total restoration took place. What God says is true. If you're going through something that you can't possibly imagine could be worked together for good, just wait. You'll eventually see it, and marvel. It will be turned into a great testimony. Pray for grace to walk through your difficulty faithfully, with confidence that God is doing something great behind the scenes. It doesn’t make sense now, but later on you WILL see it. Be patient. Joseph was faithful under terrible circumstances. In your struggle, understand that we are not spared difficulties, even unfair and unjust difficulties, but we are called to remain faithful in total confidence that God IS going to work it all out for the good, and there will be a blessing so huge you can't even imagine it now. Just remain faithful! Later, like Joseph, you will see it all and be utterly amazed.