Something Good Will Come Out of This
26. In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself, intercedes for us through wordless groans.
27. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the Will of God.
28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:26-28
Defining Good
The caption in my Bible read, “Present Suffering and Future Glory” and something resonated in my heart that reminded me that good might be delayed but it cannot be destroyed. Without fail, those who have struggled, suffered, and strained to do the Will of God have always come out on the good side of the battle. Sometimes when we are in the thick of the conflict, blindness on our part prevents us from understanding that the Battle is not about us and is not depended on us for victory. Sometimes in the midst of the conflict, we forget that the Spirit is not only in the battle with us but has implemented His powerful plan to win the battle through us.
– Why should it surprise us that God uses weak things in order to do great things?
– Why should we be alarmed that chaos rears its ugly head every now and then to intimidate the Children of God?
Why are we alarmed when bad things happened just when we were hoping for the best? What we need to realize and start speaking when these things happen is that “something good will come out of this.”
Our first task is to define “good.” Is this my good or God’s good? It is clear from reading these verses that good is defined based on God’s plan and not our emotional state. Good is hinged upon future Glory to God and not the present conditions that believers face. So here is the first warning. Good must never become the way I see it nor become my expectations for Almighty God to see things my way. Why is that critical? It is critical because I do not know things on the Divine level; I only understand things on the microscopic level of human understanding. So for me to assume that I know what is “good” makes no sense. I must rely on God the Spirit to define good. Notice the verse instructs us. In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray. The King James says, we don’t know what to pray as we ought.
The second warning is to resist the temptation to denounce trouble as evil. For things to be good does not mean they must always look or feel good. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. One commentator made a statement that if something was not good for you God would not permit it to enter your life. While I see the basis for that statement it does not reflect the content of this marvelous verse. Romans 8:28 clearly says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. There is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the Love of Christ. Because of that, all things may try us, but they cannot destroy us because of God’s Sovereignty. No matter how bad – something good will prevail.
The third warning is to only define good based on the Holy Spirit’s work. If you read Romans 8:28 without first applying Romans 8:26, you would assume that good would come, but not know why or how it came. The words, and we know … refer to a level of understanding about the situation that gives comfort and hope in the situation. That understanding is not left to human ability but to the inner working of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit helps our weakness and groans before God on our behalf. What a powerful truth. Christ groaned in agony on the Cross and now the Holy Spirit groans over the deep need for our life. Knowing the Holy Spirit’s engagement and work helps me understand and know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. That is the only way to truly proclaim “It’s all good.” Only then can we testify that something good will come out of this.
Good Will Come
Based on this verse, none of us will ever have to worry about Good. Good is taken care of and will take care of us. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
There will always be good because God is good. The only way for evil to prevail is for good to cease. And that will never happen. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. As we apply the good to the now, we are confident that something good will come out of this.
Something good will come out of this because the Holy Spirit is now at work helping us understand what we can’t understand. We don’t understand how hatred seems to always prevail. We don’t understand why there is hunger in our streets. We don’t understand why wicked people keep doing wicked things. That is where the Holy Spirit reminds us that these troubles will not last. The Holy Spirit visits us in stormy times to remind us and enlighten us that God is using trials to actually make us stronger in our faith. We’re much like Job in that we cannot see what is going on behind the scenes, yet God keeps informing us that something good will come out of this.
It did not make sense to call the fiery furnace a good place. Certainly, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not enter the furnace to have a good time. They knew, however, that God was able and that was all they needed to know. Something good came out if it. The first good thing is that the fire did not consume them. The next good things is that ropes can’t hold people in the fire (so the ropes burned up). The greatest good thing that happened in the fire is that the Fourth Man showed up right on time. The last good thing is that God was glorified through a pagan king who said, “No other God can save like this God.” Something good came out of that fiery furnace.
Something good will come out of this because of the end time signs. Long before these troubled days came on the horizon, Jesus set up some signs to warn us of the end times. Wars was a sign. Earthquakes was another sign. Famine was another sign of the end times. Jesus said that because of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold. These are signs. Then Jesus said, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30.
Something good will come out of this because of God’s Promise. Please let it be known that God never promised a life free from trouble. God never promised that you would be rich, famous, or well off by the world standards. God did promise that He would always be with you. God promised that you would always have a place in His House. God did promise that no weapon formed against you would prosper and every tongue that would rise against you in judgment, God would condemn. God did promise that nothing would separate you from the Love of God. Because God made that promise, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
What I need you to do is to write down your “this.” Tell God what you are dealing with in your situation. Whatever is your “this,” then know that it cannot defeat the Power and Might of God that is working on your behalf.
Sometimes the good comes in the ability to endure. We learn to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Sometimes that is the good that comes from being faced with the struggle.
Sometimes the good that comes in the situation is the testimony of our faithfulness through the Holy Spirit’s power. People see that we are in Christ and that our faith is unmovable. When you can hold your head up when your life is under attack from all angles, that truly is a testimony.
Then sometimes, God chooses to defeat the enemy right before your eyes. The enemy that came against us one way, we now see fleeing seven ways. The storm that threatened to destroy was turned back at God’s rebuke. Those that talked about us and scandalized our name, have fallen into the very traps that they set. Something good comes out because God made a way out of no way.
The greatest joy of any situation and the greatest good out of every circumstance is for God to get the glory. When you know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose, you won’t mind giving God praise. Child of God, keep believing that something good will come out of this.