Albert Barnes has
this thought, “All things - All our afflictions and trials; all the
persecutions and calamities to which we are exposed. Though they are numerous
and long-continued yet they are among the means that are appointed for our
welfare.”
If you listen to people talk, even Christians you hear them speak very blessed of God when good things happen, and they should, but what about the “bad times”? our persecutions and trials in life are also a blessing from God, we just do not recognize them as such. We are finite, so therefore we have many limits, and those limits causes us to be ignorant of so many things. We sometimes find ourselves laboring in our bad time when we ought to praise God in them and recognize His Sovereignty in everything that happens in our life. Most Christians don’t even know about the Sovereignty of God because they are not taught about it. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:18 “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;” So God has said, “we know that all things work together for good”, because “all things are of God,”. Since all things are of God and God has promised that all things work together for the good, then shouldn’t we praise God for every event in our life whether good or bad? Believing in God as the Sovereign Being that He is helps with this, because His Sovereignty puts Him in control of everything. Let us use this example: Let’s say you must be in a certain location that was a must being there, and you missed your flight, this might seem like a life disaster, until you heard the plane crashed, was missing the flight a blessing? As a finite people we are limited to thought and understanding, therefore we cannot balance the blessings of God with the happenings of life. Only God is infinite, therefore having all knowledge and understanding, because He has ordained everything to be, it is called “PREDESTINATION”. “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” Ephesians 1:5 Everything in our life is “ORDAINED” of God before the world was ever created and is manifested in due time. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1 even our birth and death are ordained of God, “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;” Ecclesiastes 3:2 If Believer’s are not taught these things then they will never understand them and life will be more difficult because we fail to know that, “…know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Now, for a true blessing and a greater understanding of this, read the rest of Romans 8 that is verses 28 – 39 and pay special attention to verses 28 – 30. Folks, God is in control of everything and nothing is out of His control, because He has ordained everything in your life to be, even death. Therefore, we have reason to praise God for every event in our life, even in sickness and death. To understand God is to understand His workings, His salvation, and the blessings of death. While many things in life may be thought of as disastrous, God has it in His control and in some way there is good in it, even in death. Remember God’s promise to us, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord…(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)…We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:6 – 8
