God's Glorious Recipe - Himalayan Heights - April 16 Readings: Romans 8:28 – All Things for Good

Himalayan Heights: Romans 8

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  Romans 8

Though we are going to focus each day on a different portion of this wonderful text, read Romans 8 each day. If there are some Scriptures that are the Himalayas of the Bible, Romans 8 must be Mt. Everest! Starting with the affirmation that there is no condemnation in Christ, through the promise that all things work for the good of those who love him, and ending with the promise that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, it is one mountain peak after the other. We could do a year of daily devotions from this passage and not exhaust its glories, but we will settle for doing one week - seven days. 

Some verses are more prone to misinterpretation and misapplication than others, and our verse today is among that number, But it's the power of the verse, when properly interpreted, that makes it so powerful and life-changing.

Through the Bible Readings: Judges 15-16, Luke 11:29–54, Psalm 48:4–10, Proverbs 11:3-4

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: God's Glorious Recipe

God gives us good things and Satan sends us bad things. 

That is what a friend of mine told me once, and I think a lot of people believe it. It has nothing to do with Scripture.

The Lord never gives us more than we can handle.

Where on earth did anyone ever get an idea like that?

Everything will always work out well. 

Another pipe dream. Another false hope.

Many of these ideas are rooted, in one way or another, in the verse that we look at today, Romans 8:28 - mistaken views of that verse.

And we know that for those who love God all thing work together for good, for those who are call according to his purpose. 

Let's start with what this verse does NOT promise.

• It does not say that everything is going to work out. Sometimes things don't work out. 
• It does not say that nothing bad will ever happen to a child of God. Bad things happen to us all the time. 
• It does not say that all things work for good for everyone. 

First, it is important to note to whom this verse is addressed. This promise is given to those who love God and who have been called to the purposes of God. That last statement is synonymous with salvation, but also implies a life of submission and obedience. The first statement, "who love God" implies those who live their lives with a passion for God.

This verse does not say that if I cheat on my wife, it's going to work together for good, or if I am unfaithful in my ministry, it will all come out okay. It speaks to those who are saved and walking in obedience to the purposes of God, whose hearts are passionate for the things of God.

It does not say that all things will be good. It says that they will all work together for good. God, in his sovereign power, will bring everything that happens to me, if I am walking in his grace, to serve his greater purposes. It will all result in good.

This verse always makes me think about my wife's chocolate cake. It's actually her Grandma Wierauch' s recipe. There is not a single ingredient in that recipe that I would want to eat, except perhaps sugar, and I'm not that crazy about eating sugar by the spoonful. Crisco. Cocoa. Eggs. Flour. Whatever other ingredients there are. Nasty, tasteless, gross. But mix them all together in just the right order and it is something wonderful to devour.

God is the master chef. He brings ingredients into your life that are not always tasty - things you hate. But he is able to mix the ingredients of your life in perfect measure to produce a masterpiece - to use your life for his glory and to bring his good into it.

When you do not like the ingredients God is mixing into your life, remember that the master chef is creating a recipe that will be beyond your wildest expectations. He will work all these things for his glory and your good.

Father, in these scary, difficult, stress-inducing days, I thank you that I can trust that you are working all things for my good as I walk in you and seek you. 

Think and Pray:

Do you trust the plan of God?
Do you complain about the individual ingredients or do you look forward to the master plan?