This past Sunday we considered the wonderful, comforting, emboldening promise of Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
There is so much treasure for God’s people to mine in this one verse. There is no end to the applications of this verse to our lives. As Paul goes on to say in Romans 8, “If God is for us, who can be against us!” Or what can work against his good purposes. The rhetorical question assumes the answer, “Nothing and no one!” Here are just a few insights and implications of this verse to meditate on, from some long-dead theologians.
“Luther said that he could never rightly understand some of the Psalms, till he was in affliction. Affliction teaches what sin is. In the word preached, we hear what a dreadful things sin is, that it is both defiling and damning, but we fear it not more than a painted lion; therefore God lets loose affliction, and then we feel sin bitter in the fruit. A sick-bed often teaches more than a sermon. We can best see the ugly visage of sin in the glass of affliction….. We see that corruption in our hearts in the time of affliction, which we would not believe was there.” (Thomas Watson, All Things Good, 27-28)
“Afflictions come not by casualty, but by counsel. By the counsel of God they are ordained as means of much spiritual good to saints…. They are God’s workmen upon our hearts, to pull down the pride and carnal security of them; and being so, their nature is changed; they are turned into blessings and benefits.” (John Flavel, Keeping the Heart, 41)
“Providence is like a curious piece of tapestry made of a thousand shreds, which, single (by themselves), appear useless, but put together, they represent a beautiful history to the eye.” (Flavel, 46)
“God would never permit evil, if He could not bring good out of evil.” (Augustine, quoted in Watson, 48)
“It is good to know our sins, that we may not flatter ourselves, or take our condition to be better than it is. It is good to find out our sins, lest they find us out.” (Watson, 49)