When I’ve been asked recently—what do I know, for sure? My answer most of the time is, “not enough.” If I knew more, I wouldn’t live in Dallas in the summertime. 

Paul was writing to the church in Rome, which he did not establish and had not visited. Persecution was frequent and severe. Paul wanted them to know, for sure, that God had not and would not, abandon them. 

Romans 8 is for me one of the most powerful chapters in all of the New Testament. It begins, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The chapter concludes with a litany that assures the Roman Christians that no dangers—physical (v. 35), spiritual, or cosmic (vv. 38-39)—could separate these young believers from God’s love in Christ Jesus. (vv. 38-39) Between the beginning and ending of this chapter, Paul spells out his confidence that God loved them before time, that he had called them to fulfill his purpose, and that there was eternal life for all those who respond in faith to Jesus by loving him. This is made possible by the death of God’s only son and the resurrected Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God to intercede for us. So Jesus is not our accuser.  He is our advocate, our champion. This was Paul’s confidence. He staked his life on what he knew—for sure. 

Because of Paul’s personal confidence in Christ, he could say, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” I am remind of this every day, because the reference is engraved in my wedding band (v. 28). The proportions of this verse are gigantic.  “All things work together for good”? This was the testimony of one who said, “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, I was in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.” He endured this because he was sure that “all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

Paul did not say that everything that happens to you is good. He knew about evil, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and the consequence of poor choices. “Good” does not mean things turn out the way we wished.  We do not always know what is good for us.  “Good” is not magical thinking that immediately turns bad things into good. God is not always visible in working things out for good. God patiently works through the Spirit to redeem the bad and wrong things for the good in our lives. The “good” does not always happen on our timetable. Rom. 8:28 testifies to the work of God.  It is about divine faithfulness. Sixteen references are made to God or Christ in nine verses. The heart of the gospel is in verse 31: God is for us!

The confidence that Paul had “that all things work together for good” is not based on some philosophical notion that the universe is full of goodness.  This certitude is for those “who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  This is not intended to be exclusionary. It is true because you are not going to see the good, the value of the experience, or to understand what is happening, unless you love God!

God works in all things—the good, the bad, and the ugly—to redeem them for good. We tend to take for granted the good things. We see them as a just reward for our hard work or our goodness. Even those who have accepted the love of God, made known in Jesus, too easily miss seeing the handiwork of God in the good things of life.  The truth is that God has blessed us with far more reasons for gratitude than we can number.  The good that God works to put together in our lives is a blend of all our experiences—good and bad.

Rick Warren recently said in an interview that “he used to think life had its peaks and its valleys— highs and lows at separate times.  He said he’s changed his mind and decided that life is a parallel track of good things and bad things at the same time. He illustrated that by saying the year his Purpose-Driven Life book reached 17 million in sales was the same year his wife was diagnosed with cancer. He had elation and grief at the same time.”

But let me ask you some personal questions. When do you pray the most, in good times or tough times? When do you feel the greatest need for God, in times of celebration or times of sadness?

When do you grow in trust, beside the still waters or in the turbulent waters? When do you see the work of God most clearly, in the present tense or the past tense?  When do you learn the most about grace, when feeling no pain or when trapped in guilt and shame? 

Honestly, I, and most of the people I know, reach out for the presence of God when times are tough or sad, when the water is overwhelming, when guilt and shame capture our minds. This is when we want to be reminded that God is for us, that God has justified us, and that there is no condemnation for those who have accepted the death of Christ for their sins. There are those times when the most important affirmation is “that nothing in life or death will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (v. 39b) 

Sometimes faith in God’s work is the only thing that stands between you and complete despair and death. Trust and hope cannot just be wished into our lives. We cannot will ourselves to trust Christ. They are gifts from God to our hearts, when we need them the most. Paul wrote in Rom. 5:5, “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” 

I’m not one who clips and saves many articles from the newspaper.  But some months ago, I saved a clipping about Carolyn Thomas. A year or so ago an angry boyfriend put a gun to her right temple and pulled the trigger. The shot annihilated her face. “There was nothing there,” said the cop who arrived on the scene, “just blank blood.” But Carolyn Thomas was still there.

The 34-year-old Waco woman spent 2004 fighting to put her life back together—and helping other women avoid her fate.

She does not have a face. She has a hole where it used to be. It’s covered by a mass of bandages, from which she peers out with the eye she has left. She has no job; she cannot work in her condition, and has to rely on a $650 monthly disability check. She has no companion to share her apartment.  She lived with her mother, whom police say was shot to death by the boyfriend who then turned the gun on her.

But Carolyn Thomas has faith—“I’m alive for a reason, I don’t question God”—and the will not just to endure this hell, but to prevail over it. Every time she presents herself in public, people stare. But she keeps going. She won’t give up…. She is redeeming her suffering by campaigning agaist domestic violence. The writer of the article concludes, “Her face is an icon of hope.” (Dallas Morning News) Earlier this year, a team of doctors began the surgery that will bring her back to normalcy.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God, unless we are seduced into believing that the power of this earth is more important than God’s work in our lives; unless we are foolish enough to believe that we can justify our lives by our own goodness and do not need the death and life of Jesus to justify us; unless we are too attached to our stuff and the enjoyment of the present moment to look back or ahead in faith. Then God’s work in your life is limited at best.

So what is God doing in your life today? There is a first critical decision we must all make if God is to do the work that he intends for you. You have to turn loose of false pride, power, and pretense.  You have to answer the call of God with faith in Jesus Christ to save you. If this is what you need to do, then there is no better time than now.

And who among us, who has already accepted that call, does not need a refreshing, renewing, refocusing of our lives by the one who first loved us?

I gave my life to Christ in faith about 60 years ago. I must tell you that the tracks of my life may be parallel, but the terrain of my heart and soul has gone up steep mountains and down into some dark and lonesome valleys. I know today for sure that nothing has ever separated me from the love of God—not sin, failure, cynicism or success. I hope today that you too know for sure that God is faithful in his love for you.