We all go through challenges in life. Just because we’re Christians, doesn’t mean we’re immune to those challenges. If you’re anything like me, you can get discouraged in the midst of your challenges. This is why the Bible speaks so often about them. It tells us of our responsibility in the midst of challenges — it also clearly tells of God’s covenant promise to us.
When we are faced with life’s challenges, Christians commonly proclaim that God is working “all things together for good.” It’s as an abbreviated version of Paul’s claim in Romans that reveres God’s sovereign providence in the Christian’s life.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
It’s a great truth and one that should be regularly remembered during the challenges of the Christian life.
God’s Covenant Promise
Christians over the centuries have gained much comfort from God’s sovereignty. There is, however, additional solace in knowing God’s covenant promises to employ His sovereignty for the good of His people — in other words, He promised to do so, therefore He does.
Thomas Watson, the great Puritan of the 17th century, published All Things for Good. Watson’s publication succeeded the “Great Ejection” of 1662, where 2000 ministers departed the Church of England following the Act of Uniformity (the government’s attempt at continental reform). This excommunication devastated the Church of England, and we can presume many were confounded about such a tragedy.
Watson knew pastors and congregations alike needed encouragement. It’s telling that he’d use Romans 8:28 to do it. In difficult times, Watson obviously felt the people needed an answer to the question: “Does God really work all things together for good?”
Today, like then, we have other questions that revolve around God’s working all things together for good, such as “Why does God allow bad things happen to good people,” or “Why does a sovereign God allow evil?”
Watson published All Things for Good as an obvious encouragement to a devastated country of believers. Using the book of Jeremiah, Watson encourages Christians with God’s covenant promise to His people.
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. ‘For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them’ (Jeremiah 32:38-41).
Watson declares that God’s covenant promise is “The grand reason why all things work for good, is the near and dear interest which God has in His people. The Lord has made a covenant with them…. By virtue of this compact, all things do, and must, work for good to them.”
God promised believers of Jeremiah’s time, believers of Watson’s time and believers of our time that He’s made a covenant promise to all of us. Because of that covenant promise — He will work all things together for good. We can hold fast to His covenant and His promise — because He’s a God that’s proven to be worthy of our trust (cf. Gen. 22).
Joseph and All Things Good
Perhaps no one appreciated his covenant God making good out of grave circumstances more than Joseph did. His recorded life in Genesis 37-50 details his attempted murder, being sundered from family and friends and sold into slavery, being accused of rape, and being wrongfully imprisoned. He placed his faith in the covenant that God made with him in Christ (Old Testament believers looked forward to the Savior in faith, we look back to Him in faith).
Joseph was Jacob’s son and the great-grandson of Abraham. He had 11 brothers, and he was the apple of his father’s eye — much to the dismay of his brothers. Endeavoring to find relief from their quandary, Joseph’s brothers resolved to cast their sibling into a deep pit abandoning him for dead. Their murderous act convicted two of his brothers, Reuben and Judah, and upon a reevaluation they elected to sell Joseph to a transient group of Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver (approximately $100 today), who subsequently sold him for an undisclosed amount to Potiphar (the captain of the palace guard and an officer of the Pharaoh of Egypt).
Joseph’s narrative becomes perilous as he spends 11 years as a slave in Potiphar’s palace. Of those 11 years, Joseph was bound for two years as a prisoner on account of Potiphar’s wife pursuing sexual relations with him. Joseph rebukes her sexual advancements, stating “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 50:9). Her failure at fornication fueled her anger, eliciting shrieks of rape. Joseph found himself condemned, sentenced, shackled, and imprisoned.
It would seem reasonable to question God’s ability to work all things together for good at this point, but Joseph remained faithful to the same covenant promise that was given to his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father.
Joseph eventually rose to second in power over Egypt after interpreting the Pharaoh’s dreams which correctly predicted a great famine upon the land. The famine eventually reached Joseph’s family in Canaan. Jacob, Joseph’s father, sent his sons to Egypt. After 20 years of separation, his brothers, who attempted his murder and then sold him into slavery, stood before the second most powerful man in the world begging for food. Rightly his brothers feared for their lives, convinced Joseph would take revenge on them.
Joseph’s response is nothing less than spectacular.
His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’ But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good (emphasis mine), to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (Genesis 50:19-21).
Joseph refuses the role of God and judge because he understood that God overrules sin for His glory and for the good of mankind. He testifies to what the psalmist declares: “Light dawns in the darkness for the upright” (Psalm 112:4). Therefore, Joseph’s peace was being cognizant of and experiencing what Watson later penned about Christian affliction: “The most dark [and] cloudy providences of God have some sunshine in them.”
Whatever it is that you’re going through, family division, false accusations, false imprisonment, being caught up in others sins at no fault of your own, God will be true to His promise in Romans 8:28. We have to faithful to Him in the midst of our challenges knowing He’s our covenant keeping God, and, therefore, He will work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
God didn’t have to work good out of Joseph’s suffering, but He held true to His Word and its promise to him as a Christian. God, rich in His grace, sweetened his outward pain with inward peace. John 16:20 states, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” In this passage, Jesus enlightens His disciples that His crucifixion was imminent and those who would murder Him would do so with joy. However, the sorrow that would deeply consume His disciples would soon be replaced with great joy at His resurrection, ascension, and the coming Spirit (John 16:16-24).
*Therefore, as Christians we know that God works all things together for good because — why? — His covenant is a promise to employ His sovereignty for the good of all Christians, even those wounded by murderous schemes, slavery, false accusations, and abuse of all sorts.
Anthony Terrones says
Amen! Thank you for this post. Refreshing to read this great truth.
Suzanne Way says
Very encouraging and educational. I have endured a lot of sorrow this past year and have had to lean on my faith in Jesus even more. I needed to read this today! Thank you for the depth and scripture references supporting your statements as well.
Lynn says
Good Read… Love this couldn’t come at a better time…
Thanks and God Bless…