Visiting his grandparents, a small boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out. He picked it up and found that it was an old leaf that had been pressed flat between the pages. "Mama, look what I found," he called out.
"What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked."
With astonishment in his voice, the boy answered, "I think it's Adam's underwear!"
God works all things for the good (Romans 8:28)
Just as an introduction I thought we would have a quick look at the marvels of our immune system. This system that God has created just to illustrate how much God is in control of our situation
This is particularly important in the Covid era! As we all know besides the innate protective system of our skin, gastric acids etc, our white cells are the policemen in our bodies that protect us from all the baddies out there and from viruses (Covid etc), bacteria and any other foreign material and toxins that could damage us. There are 5 different white cell types- basophils, eosinophils, neutrophils, monocytes and the lymphocytes. Particularly important are the lymphocytes that once exposed to a specific foreign substance or virus has the ability to develop a highly specific response to the foreign antigen. The lymphocytes do this in two ways either through lymphocytic cells (T-cells) fighting the foreigner, or though lymphocytic B cells creating antibodies to fight the invader. Both being highly specific in recognising the virus, bacteria or foreign toxin. If it were not so specific the body would destroy itself. With the Covid virus the body recognises a specific protein-the Spike protein of the Coronavirus. That recognition of that specific protein sequence of the spike protein of the Covid virus is in our DNA and was in our DNA before we were born! If it was not there we would not recognise it and no vaccines would work. And there can only be one reason that was there and that is, over all the thousands of years we have been on this planet, God knew that one day we would face a corona virus out break and we would need this to survive! The vaccines are working because they activate what God has provided and knew about since time began! That information has been embedded in us and is revealed today. It’s quite incredible and reinforces just how much God is in control
Ecclesiastes 1:9
9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
In other words God knows the past and He knows the future and that is why we can quote Romans 8:28 so confidently
Romans 8:28
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
But I would like to look at a few examples in the bible of this
The first example is when Paul first visits Philippi in AD 50, a city in Macedonia founded by Alexander the Great. Much later he writes a letter to it which we know as the Book of Philippians in the New Testament. He visits with Luke, Timothy and Silas but he and Silas are thrown into jail. We read this in Acts 16.
Acts 16:25-34
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
They were later released, went to Lydia’s house in Philippi then left. Lydia and her family and the jailer and his family became the founding members of the church in Philippi. So immediately some good has come out of this experience but it goes much further.
Seven years later he does visit Philippi again on his way to Rome. However when he gets to Rome, Paul is arrested again. The church he establishes in Philippi i.e. the Philippian church sends Epaphroditus to Paul while he is in prison with a gift. This clearly was a great blessing to him and he writes a letter to the Philippians, which is now part of the New Testament. He writes
Philippians 4:14-19
14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
So let’s think what happened here
God allowed Paul and Silas to go through trials and suffering in the jail in Philippi so that the jailer and his whole family could be saved and know God.
The jailer his family and Lydia and her family were the start of the Philippian church. They were then able to support Paul when he was thrown into prison in Rome 10 years later. They were a wonderful blessing to him years later
While Paul was in prison again in Rome, his freedoms were taken away and so the best thing he could do was write a letter to the Philippians. And how we treasure those letters today!
God’s hand is on us no matter what situation we find ourselves in, no matter what prison we may find ourselves in, physically or mentally. What we think are restrictions, what we think are chains binding us, turn out to be the most amazing blessings, sometimes years later.
The second example I want to bring today is the example of Jacob and Joseph. In Genesis 42:36 Jacob after thinking he had lost Joseph, with Simeon in jail in Egypt, cries out “Everything is against me!” Little did he realise that in fact would be the best thing that has ever happened to him! And because we do not know and see the whole picture we seem to almost by default to be drawn into this spiral of looking inwards and forgetting that we serve a God who has designed this world and has a plan!
If we think what happened to Joseph, rejected by his brothers, thrown into the pit, then when in Egypt thrown into the jail and then forgotten. But in the end all this was necessary to save Jacob’s entire family, and so also potentially saved the future Israel from extinction by famine.
Genesis 50:20
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
This very principle applies to us all to this day!
The third example. What would you do if your daughter suddenly became blind? Remember we spoke about Fanny Adams (1820-1915) who wrote the hymn Blessed Assurance and wrote more than 8,000 gospel song texts in her lifetime. At six weeks old, Crosby caught a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes. Mustard poultices were applied to treat the discharges. It is said that this procedure damaged her optic nerves and blinded her. (Some suggest her blindness was congenital?)
She once said that : "It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me."
How we react to hardship is really what defines us and grows us
Just to take a step back, we may ask why does God allow these bad things to happen in the first place? Just to address that point quickly, it’s been 20 years since the terrible events of the Twin Towers and of 911 and we were listening on the radio in the car a few days ago, to a man who had lost his brother when the towers came down. While he once believed in God, he could no longer believe in God because no god would have allowed anything like this to have happened! There are two points which he and others immediately forget .
They forget who is the ruler of this world.
2 Corinthians 4:4 (NASB)
… the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
And in fact in John 12:31 John writes that Satan is the "ruler of this world" ! We can’t blame God for man’s evil actions. What Satan does is, he deflects the accusations to blame God, a God of infinite love, grace and compassion as orchestrating evil or at least an accessory to the evil. And people believe it! The world buys this lie because it is blinded by Satan!
How can we ever forget that the Father saw His own Son suffer, be crucified and die a terrible death on the cross. Do we reject God for allowing His own Son to suffer like this? Because if we do we reject the saving of all mankind through the ultimate sacrifice made by Jesus !
Is this death and resurrection of Jesus not the ultimate example of Romans 8:8 in that “all things God works for the good of those who love Him”.
In fact this is a classic example of just when Satan celebrates this excruciating death of the seed promise of Abraham, the Messiah, believing he has achieved the final victory, God is in fact bringing to completion the mechanism for the saving of mankind. A mechanism whereby man can commune with the Father through the blood of Jesus and be adopted into His family and have the hope of the resurrection and eternal life with the Father.
The fourth example I would like to give of Romans 8:28 is that of Joni Eareckson- now Joni Eareckson-tada.- in July 1967 a dive into Cheaspeake bay as a teenager changed her life from energy to quadriplegia- paralysed from the shoulder down. She was devastated- no more outdoor sports- moved from despair to severe depression. She looked at the book of Job and instead of asking why, why why and demanding answers, she started to do just what Job did, she stuck to God’s faithfulness. It took years but she started to rely on God more and more. She started to paint with her mouth and became an exceptional public speaker. She has received many many awards and written nearly 100 books! Her life has become an inspiration for many. She writes that her accident was a “glorious intruder” and says it was the best thing that happened to her. She writes “ But now I realise that I will be healed. I haven’t been cheated out of being a complete person- I’m just going through a 40 or 50 year delay, and God stays with me even through that.”
We know this is true because
Revelation 21:3-5
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
(Also Philippians 3:21)
Just to close then. Even if we don’t see how any of these examples apply to us and we don’t see any good in our situation here are some definite points you can take from the difficult situation you are in.
The challenges we face make us rely on God ,not on ourselves and that is a good thing
Paul writes in
2 Corinthians 1:8-10
We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.
The second good thing we know, is that these challenges or trials lead to a steadfastness in our character and humility !
Romans 5:3-5
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who he has given us.
In other words any long suffering produces a steadfastness .It also produces humility It is these defining attributes of a person’s character that is necessary for us to have faith and hope to the end of our days. To be steadfast and not to be swayed to the left or the right, no matter what the world throws at us is something we can truly rejoice in. We are called to be steadfast and we need to go through the fire to harden that steely resolve so that we can stand strong and in so doing press in closer and closer to God!
If there is one thing to take away from today it is our trials produce a steadfastness. And that’s what we need more than anything else in our world today