According to His Purpose

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

At one time or another, we all go through seasons in which our hearts and minds are filled with doubts, confusion, and questions: Why me? Why now? Often, these questions come on the heels of a season in which everything seemed so very clear—a new opportunity, a new challenge, a new mission. At such times, I want to sit down and have a face-to-face conversation with God.

Since God seldom heeds my counsel, I am driven by circumstances back to His Holy Word to receive His counsel. And that is just how I happen to land on the verse quoted above.

From God’s vantage point, He not only sees my yesterdays and my today, but also my tomorrows. I, who cannot see around the corner into tomorrow, am being called to trust the God who is already in my tomorrow, waiting for me to arrive. Because that is true—and because He is privy to information that I am not—He calls me to trust Him.

In April of this year, I embraced a ministry opportunity that I truly believe came from God. With a heart filled with confidence and joy, I began to serve God in this calling. Three months later, the needs of my aged father-in-law became so great that I had to step away from this new ministry assignment to assist my wife in the day-to-day care of her father. There was no way that I could serve the church, which is a five-hour drive from my home, and honor my father-in-law by ministering to his needs. Believe me when I tell you that doubts and confusion filled my mind as I longed to fulfill both callings.

Two short phrases in Romans 8:28 leap off the pages of my Bible today: we know and all things. With regard to we know, the phrase means to have seen, perceived, and understood. This is a deep and intimate knowing. As for all things, well, that is pretty self-explanatory.

Colossians 3:3 says, “…my life is hidden with Christ in God,” which ultimately means that nothing is allowed to touch my life that is not ultimately for God’s glory and my maturation in Christ.

I am then reminded of God’s character in Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

Today, whether or not, I fully understand the situation in which I presently find myself, I am called by faith to believe that my life is hidden with Christ in God. Because I love Him above all things, everything in my life is working together for His glory and my good. I must believe that God is honest and that He sincerely longs to see His will fulfilled in my life.

The fact that I have walked with God for 53 years and have served His people for 50 of those years does not make me exempt from doubts and confusion when everything seemed to be moving in a wonderful direction—until the rug was pulled out from under my feet by a pressing family need. I, too, have asked, “Why?”

Once again, the questions that fill my heart and mind have driven me to Romans 8:28 and Colossians 3:3. And once again, I am being asked to embrace the truth found in them and to trust the One who inspired the Apostle Paul to write them. When I study the life of Paul, I discover a man just like me, whose plans were, at times, short-circuited by the sovereign hand of God. Yet Paul ultimately submitted, knowing and believing that all things work together for good for the child of God in Christ.

By the way, I still do not know what tomorrow holds, but I do know who holds my tomorrows.