“Behind a frowning providence”

Paul Williamson

Some years ago one of those horrible blue screens of death appeared on my computer monitor. At first I wasn’t overly concerned. All I needed to do was initiate a reboot – or so I thought. However, when initial attempts all failed, panic began to set in, especially because I realised that some of my files hadn’t been backed up. I was well aware that regular back-ups are important. I just hadn’t got around to doing it.

Before automated back-ups to the cloud, this was a fairly common oversight. There was no problem with the concept in principle; it was simply more challenging in practice.

Such a gap between principle and practice also applies to our handling of some truths set out in Scripture; some of them are easy to accept in principle, but a bit harder to accept in practice. And surely this applies to the truth underlined in Romans 8:28 –“all things work together for good to those who love God”.

I dare say most readers of Southern Cross will agree with this as a biblical truth; but are we still convinced when faced by some of life’s harsh realities? What about the young mother killed by a drunk driver? What about the parents whose little girl has been diagnosed with terminal cancer? How is that good? I’m sure we can all think of tragedies that have happened to ourselves or to people we know; calamities that seem to challenge the validity of Paul’s assurance here.

Of course, such tragic circumstances don’t really undermine the truth Paul is articulating. Even though they might seem to, often that’s because we pay insufficient attention to what is actually said. So often the verse is only partially quoted – “all things work together for good” – and this statement is then picked apart by the known facts of a given situation. However, it is important that this text is read in full, and that its context is kept in view.

In Romans 8, Paul contrasts our present experience with our future hope. While not exclusively so, the sufferings in view are primarily those experienced for the sake of Christ. The sufferings we, as Christians, experience in this present evil age are not “worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (8:18). It’s against this setting that we must read and interpret what Paul claims here in verse 28.

Here we certainly have one of the most reassuring verses in Scripture; it has been described as the greatest promise in God’s word, though it’s arguably more a fact than a promise. In any case, the truth it conveys, the reality of God’s special providence, has enabled many to bear up under the most severe trials.

Divine providence has well been described as God’s hand in the glove of history. However, here Paul is not referring to what we might call the general providence of God; rather, he is speaking here of God’s special providence – the outworking of his will for his people, or as Paul describes them here, “those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. Paul is restricting what he says here to believers; to those who have a personal relationship with God through faith in his Son.

It’s vital to bear this in mind. The claim Paul makes does not apply to humanity in general, but only to those who love God. As those who do so, Christians can take tremendous comfort from this truth that all things are working together for our good – or, as most modern versions render it, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him”.

Paul’s statement should not be understood in a fatalistic sense. Behind the “all things working for good” Paul obviously saw the omnipotent hand of God. To use a metaphor Paul uses elsewhere, God is the master craftsman, and our lives are his masterpieces. Our experiences, bad as well as good, all contribute to the finished product.

As has often been observed, our lives resemble the making of a tapestry. The back of it seems to be a tangled mess of purposeless threads; however, on the front side a beautiful picture is taking shape. In order to appreciate the truth of our text, we need to look at things from a different angle; from a heavenly, rather than an earthly, perspective.

Moreover, we must take care not to impose our own definition on the word “good”. Experiences do not have to be enjoyable in order to be beneficial. For example, when a dentist fills a hole in our decaying tooth, we don’t consider it a pleasant experience. It can be extremely unpleasant and painful; yet we are willing to submit to such treatment, because it’s for our good.

Inability to make sense of our status quo often overlooks the fact that God’s providence works on a grand scale. Accordingly, as Paul goes on to explain, we must remember the big picture. As a poem Corrie ten Boom popularised reminds us,

Not till the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Shall God unroll the canvas

The dark threads are as needful In the Weaver’s skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

It’s very easy to confuse what we think may be good for us with what God knows will be good for us. As someone has pointed out, “God is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness; our character than our comfort.” And here Paul assures us that God always has our best interests at heart.

Of course, there will be times when this will be a difficult pill to swallow – times when it may seem to us, as it once seemed to Jacob, that everything has gone horribly wrong: “Everything is against me!” (Gen 42:36 NIV). Yet, as Joseph subsequently pointed out to his brothers, God over-ruled even human sin to bring about his people’s deliverance (Gen 50:20). Such is how God’s special providence manifests itself in the affairs of his people.

Only readers over the age of 50 may remember this, but inside wrist watches there used to be a sophisticated mechanism of tiny wheels and cogs. Some rotated clockwise, whereas others went in an anti-clockwise direction. But working in unison, each helped to propel the hands of the watch forward, just as the watchmaker intended.

And explain the reason why.

In the pattern He has planned. “The Christian,” it has been said, “is someone who can be certain about the ultimate even when uncertain about the immediate.” Why? Because “we know that in all things” – both the pleasant and the unpleasant – “God is working for the good [i.e. the spiritual good and eternal good] of those who love him.”

Life’s circumstances are a bit like those cogs in a mechanical watch – some seem to be going in the right direction, whereas others appear to be going the wrong way. Yet all of them contribute to God’s ordering of our lives. The circumstances we face all play a part in ensuring that we function in accordance with God’s great plan and purpose. “In all things” – the rough as well as the smooth – “God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Two Christians were once speaking of their experiences, and one very candidly remarked: “It is terribly hard to trust God and realise his hand is in the dark passages of life”. “Well, brother,” the other replied, “if you cannot trust a man out of your sight, he is not worth much; and if you cannot trust God in the dark, it shows that you do not trust him at all.”

It’s not a great example of pastoral sensitivity, but the point is still worth reflecting on. Faith has been described as trusting God regardless of the circumstances. Is that how we trust him? Or is our faith only as good as our present experience?

The Apostle Paul was obviously convinced of the truth articulated in Rom 8:28. What about us? Are we confident that God’s special providence is a fact of faith, rather than simply a flight of fancy? Certainly, there will be times when we may be sorely tempted to think the latter – one of the most difficult things to do in the furnace of affliction is to feel that God still loves us. Yet as an old preacher once observed, “We are not called to feel; we are called to believe”.

Several years ago, I read about a minister who chose Romans 8:28 as the text for his Sunday sermon. During the following week tragedy struck: his daughter died, the result of a freak accident.

The following Sunday morning, silence fell over the congregation when he announced his text: Romans 8:28. What a painful experience that must have been. Yet there was a man who still believed what he had told his congregation the previous week. A man who accepted, not only in principle, but also in practice, the truth that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. SC