You Are Assured

It was Christmas night 2003, when we got the call that Mom had been taken to the hospital. She had been experiencing severe abdominal pain and was struggling to breathe. At 11:20 pm, we received the message that the doctors had stabilized her and were going to try to transport her to a larger hospital. No one knew what was wrong.   

Not long after, she passed away. She was only 56. 

The question of “Why God?” was at the forefront of our minds. Mom had just advertised a bible study she was going to lead in the new year and over 70 ladies had signed up. On top of that, she'd recently lost a lot of weight because she wanted to be healthier, live longer, and be able to spend more quality time with her grandchildren. Everything seemed to be going well—she was growing spiritually, serving in Church, and loving her family well.  

“So, Why God?”  

The next December, as we were nearing Christmas and the first anniversary of Mom’s physical death, I remember sitting with our Pastor, who had lost his dad years before. He asked me how I was handling the question of “Why?” I responded that while I didn’t know the answer to the “why” question, what I did know was that I could still trust God. He is good, and His character, love, and presence with us was very clear.   

What was also clear was that my mom’s passing was not “good.” After she passed, I often shared my emotions with the Lord and told him that I didn’t like His “stinkin’ plan.”  

As believers, we need to make very sure we don’t mistake God’s promise that “all things work for our good” with the idea that all things will turn out good in our life, in the sense that I will like how God does things.   

“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…” (Romans 8:28-29a, NIV)  

The promise is not that all things will go well for us in this life.  In fact, Jesus promised us, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33 b, NIV)  

Rather, the promise is that God will use every circumstance of life for your good, which is defined in this verse as being conformed to the image of Christ.   

God is always at work. When we surrender to Him, nothing can stop us from developing Christ-like character.  In fact, it is often in the difficult times of life that we see this transformation happen more quickly…if we have the right attitude toward the difficulties, that is.  

You see, while we don’t have to like God’s plan (and sometimes frankly we think it stinks), our hope is not in the circumstances, but in how God will develop our character through those circumstances.  

As Paul put it earlier in Romans, “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (5:2b-5, HCSB) 

I still don’t like the fact that Mom is not here to enjoy her grandchildren (and great-grandchildren!) and that our kids didn’t get more years to experience her love for them. At the same time, I look back and see how the Lord used this and all that followed to develop my character and grow my trust in Him. 

Dear Saints, let’s not confuse good events with God’s good promise to bring about our best—Christ-like character—through the good and bad of life in this fallen world.  Remember: in the end, God wins! And since we are in Christ, we too are on the winning side.  

While we wait for that day, take courage and have hope in Christ because He is working all things together for our good.