Romans 8:28 – “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”

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Does God really work ALL things together for the good? Is the question I hear most often. And one I have struggled with a lot, until it was settled in me. And once it is settled, it can’t be unsettled again.

When we understand His goodness, that He is good, it is His nature, He can’t be anything BUT good, we see all through the lens of that! His goodness, His love, no matter its appearance. No matter what it feels like, sounds like, or what form it may come.

I see now that He is right in the middle of the “stuff of things” of life, even and especially, in the troubling, difficult and hard things. That He intends, especially in the day in which we find ourselves, that we should look to Him for ALL! That we find ALL we need in Him alone. For we have been strategically placed in extreme circumstances wherein we trust in nothing but Him to deliver, to use, for His greater purpose, whatever that is. This is faith! (I Thes. 5:16-18)

How does He deliver? With His presence alone. He may not deliver us from these difficulties or these people. He delivers us with Himself. And He alone, suffices.

We are “learning Christ” (Matthew 11:29) in experience, through the things of life (fill in the blank). We must see through all to Him in every circumstance; that He is right in the middle of this, settle into Him in each thing, each moment, taking Him as our all IN all, counting it “ALL joy” (James 1:2-4, Phil. 2:5-11, Romans 8:14-18) with thanksgiving, understanding (looking through) that He is working all according to His perfect will, regardless of appearances.

This is – “Be still and Know” – knowing and trusting that He is faithful that His glory is being revealed through this very thing we are experiencing, we are just passing through it.

(Rev.2:20) “Be faithful unto death” – applies here – death to all that we are experiencing, seeing or feeling, as the Lord is becoming all IN every situation to us, in each and every one. As we are moving from glory to glory in each thing. We are being brought to KNOW HIM experientially in these very things. We can’t know Him without them. So, we welcome them. It doesn’t make sense to our natural mind. But our spirit leaps with joy because we know that we are coming to know Him by degrees in these very things.

It has been my experience and scripture shows us time and time again that He strategically places us in situations which appear extreme, difficult, hurtful, hard, where we are wronged, misunderstood and taken advantage of so that we press into Him only, and take Him to be the only life in it! To see that He is using all of it, opening our internal eyes and ears to see that He alone, is all we need. He is going to come up right in the middle of these things and be our joy, hope, love not only to us, but through us to others.

Life is not about our happiness! No, it is centered in Christ, who is our life. It is now become Christ-centered and others-focused. We have been brought back to our original intended place in God, through Christ – to see this truth. This is the truth (or part of it) that we KNOW, that sets us free! (John 8:32). Knowing, experientially, not just a mental knowing.

Our part? To accept each present situation as from Him. To thank Him, that He is living in us, right where He chooses to place us. “Count it ALL joy” though we cannot feel it or are not experiencing it. This makes no logical sense. This is not easy and often we must cry out “I cannot, but you can, in me, as me.” This is the secret. The mystery of the gospel. He will do it, in and through us.

Will we feel the pain of it? Absolutely. It’s not easy to accept things that hurt and wound us, but we keep telling our Beloved, Christ who is and has become our life, that “nevertheless, Thy will be done, we trust – He will work all things” and we accept it.

Oh, that we will get in the habit of seeing Him living in us, just where we are! Right in the stuff of things. Not trying to run from these things or get out of them because they’re too painful.

That we remember we are the means of showing His love (the conduit). We are the love of God in human form, for He is joined to us and manifests Himself in us, as us. For He desires to live, love, in and among difficult people in all kinds of challenging situations, and we look not at the hurt they do to us, but we constantly keep before us “How can I be the love and life of the Father to them?” This takes us out of ourselves and keeps us where we should remain – “others-focused.” Again, life is about God and others. It’s not about us and our happiness – how we are treated.

For we are the manifest expressers of Him to others. We are the outflowing love and life of God. Our human “self” will feel the hurt. The key is to quickly (by faith) recognize what is really happening. That God is in us, loving through us and this swallows up all of the hurt!

What a beautiful journey we are on! This is the very life-flow, the life of God flowing forth in us, as we remain in a place of abandon and surrender.