Oh Amazing Calamity, How Sweet The Sound...

An oft quoted verse of the bible reads as such, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." You don't have to look at your bumper sticker or your knitted wall plaque to tell you that's Romans 8:28.

Is that really true? Do we experience that? Is this the truth that you walk in?

Your sister gets killed by a stray bullet at a convenience store robbery, is God working for your good then? When you have just undergone your 3rd miscarriage in-a-row, is God working for your good then? Etc, etc., etc. We all have those stories to throw in there. I would submit that Romans 8:28, biblically understood is inexpressibly true and you should stand on that promise.

Misconception number one about that verse is that God is your own personal genie now that you are tight with him. That couldn't be any falser from what scripture teaches! One of God's most normative attributes is, God is free and sovereign. When Moses asks God for his name in Exodus 3, God calls himself, I am who I am; in Ex. 33 when Moses asks God to show him his glory (translation- i want to know all of you, i would argue your best qualities (?)) he responds by saying i will cause all my goodness to pass before you, i will show mercy to whom i show mercy and compassion to whom i'll show compassion. All that to say, God is free and does what he wants.

Misconception number two is that the way you interpret goodness does not trump how God doles out goodness. The fact that you call something not good does not necessarily mean it really isn't good. Take wealth for example. You may see someone is very affluent. You might say, "Wow look how God has blessed him/her!" God making that person rich may be all of his wrath poured out on them. Why are we so quick to proclaim wealth=blessing. This is the same trap that Job's three comforters fell into. They saw what had happened to Job and pressed the fact that Job had some great sin and that was the reason that the calamity had fallen. Job knew that in this instance there was no sin that had caused this to happen. God actually backs that thought up in the beginning of the book. By the end of the book we see that God says i do what i want, and berates them with all of the 'where were you...' questions. Job repents (not for the sin that caused the calamity, because there wasn't one, but because of God's amazing holiness and Job's righteousness is as filthy rags to God) and its all good. The moral of Job is not that if you are good guy God will hook you up monetarily and circumstantially in the end. The moral is that God does what he wants and will spare no 'expense' for his children to see his amazingness. Sorry, long Job rant. This misconception is sooo important to right.

Truth: Everything (rape, murder, child pornography, natural disasters, etc.) that happens to you as a child of God is God doing what is absolutely best for you. God can only do what is good. God is only just all the time. Only righteous. Only holy. There is no other option for God. Just like we can't not sin, he can't not be holy. So what we experience on our vaporous life here is, God doing whatever it takes to make sure that HE is getting all our praise, adoration and attention, you then even say it was good for me to be afflicted so i could learn all your decrees (Psalm 119:71 paraphrased). Along those same lines, when God is in that place in your life (getting all praise, adoration and attention; completely Lord of your life; you are in deep communion with him; etc.) that is actually the very best thing God could do to/for you. Because God is the 'good' that Rom. 8:28 is talking about. Its not stuff. Its not golf, sports, sex, music, self esteem. God is the good. The truths that come along with God (like forgiveness of sin, no hell) are not the blessing, fully; it is God himself, that is the blessing. In his presence is fullness of joy and praises forevermore (Psalm 16). Rewarding you with him self is the absolutely, most postively best thing that God can/does do for his children. AMEN! When you take joy in the God that created the Grand Canyon and not in the Grand Canyon, you will get it. When you take joy in the God that ultimately invented every single thing ever, instead of those physical things, you are getting it. We haven't even touched on the fact that apart from Christ you are absolutely evil and ANY thing that you receive from God besides the most severe fullness of his wrath, is blessing to you. You aren't owed a dang thing. Your life as a child of God is you constantly falling on your face and crying out to God why me. Why show your mercy to me? It doesn't seem right to me but i will take your grace and everyday cover my life with it.

How does this all work? I HAVE NO FLIPPIN' IDEA. I just see this to be biblically true.

What does this mean for non-children of God? In the most ultimate sense, everything that happens to them is good. Not in the same way as it is for the children of God. It is good in the sense that God is doing what is right (remember, he can only do good) by showing off the glory of his wrath on these people. The largest act of sedition and evil done to the non-child of God is the smallest fraction of what their sin deserves compared to the perfect holy God. That same act of great sedition to the child of God could (and usually is) actually an act of sanctification and in fact blessing because of the same magnitude of sin that they have before the same holy and perfect God.

I have just said some very large claims. Please challenge me on these. Am i going too far? I am still in process as well, so please add your input. This may and probably does come off as harsh, for that i kinda apologize, but this is the only way i know how to express myself. There are, I'm sure, better ways to communicate these truths, but i don't know them as of yet.

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