In All Things
Scripture
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. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
-Romans 8:28–31 (NIV)
Paul is writing to people who know what suffering looks like. The early church was not insulated from hardship. They faced persecution, loss, uncertainty, and the daily friction of living as foreigners in a world that did not share their values. And yet into that reality, Paul drops one of the most anchoring statements in all of Scripture. In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Not in some things. Not in the easy things. In all things. That is either the most comforting truth in the world or a claim so large it strains belief. And the only way to hold it is to know who is making it.
Paul does not leave the claim ungrounded. He traces it all the way back to eternity. Before time began, God knew us. He predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. He called us, justified us, and glorified us. The language reads almost like history rather than promise. God’s plan for us was not improvised in response to our circumstances. It moves forward not by overriding our choices but by working through every circumstance, every detour, and every failure to accomplish something only God can see. The goal is not our comfort. It is our conformity to Christ.
“This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.”¹
— Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place
Ten Boom wrote those words from the other side of the concentration camp. She had watched her father die in prison ten days after his arrest. She had lost her sister Betsie inside Ravensbrück. She had lived through things that would give most of us permanent reason to doubt God’s goodness. And yet she came out of it with a settled conviction that nothing had been wasted. That every experience, every person, every dark passage had been part of a preparation she could not see at the time. That is what Romans 8:28 looks like when it is not a theology but a testimony.
So what shall we say in response to all of this? Paul’s own answer is a question. If God is for us, who can be against us? That is not naive optimism. It is a conclusion drawn from evidence. The God who did not spare his own Son will surely work all things together for our good. You are called. You are justified. You are secure in His love. Whatever you are walking through today, He is already at work in it, shaping something you cannot yet see.
Reflection:
- Are you facing anything right now that feels confusing or painful? How might God be working through it for your good?
- What does it mean to you personally that God predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son?
- How can you live today with greater confidence in the truth that God is for you?
Prayer:
Thank God for His eternal love and for working in all things for your good. Ask Him to help you trust Him when you cannot see the full picture, and pray that you would be conformed more and more to the image of Christ.
Footnote:
¹ Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place (Grand Rapids: Chosen Books, 1971).