The Work before the Good

If you’ve been walking with the Lord for any length of time you have probably heard Romans 8:28 quoted. It says,

“And we know that in all things God WORKS for the good of those who love Him, and have been called according to His purposes.”

This truth is often slapped on hard situations to attempt to reason out the toughest of life’s trials. Although an assurance we can in fact count on, when used to make sense of circumstances that do not make sense in real time, the verse can seem almost insensitive and plastic.

July was a month full of unforeseen storms for me and those I consider a part of my community.

My Mom passed away early in the month, six months to the day after we lost my stepdad, Skip. Just a day later a dear friend lost her husband in a tragic accident. And then a few days later some of our closest friends welcomed a new baby. He was unexpectedly born with down syndrome. I found myself battered by the constant onslaught of bad news. In a desperate attempt to reduce my anxiety and fear of more bad news, I found myself clinging to Romans 8:28. I yearned to get to the ‘good’ part of that promise for myself and my friends, but I realized there would be no more time with my Mom this side of Heaven. My friend would not get the opportunity to have another date night with her husband, and my sweet friends would be raising a son with downs.

None of those realities felt good.

Yet God challenged me to look at His promise again for more guidance and understanding. The Romans verse does say that God will WORK all things together for our good.

It’s so natural to skip right over the WORK and gravitate towards the GOOD.

But in the last weeks the Lord has reminded me that there will be no good without allowing Him the room to work. I am finding that when life feels anything but good, we have a choice. We can refuse His hand, and decide that our way is better. We can allow bitterness, offense and negativity to attach itself to our situation like a noose, strangling out the chance for any hope or life. On the other hand, we can grieve, mourn and admit our disappointment, but still keep our hands open to the work that the Lord desires to do.

We can open ourselves to the work.

The first thing we must realize in the work stage is that it’s the Lord who is doing the heavy lifting. He doesn’t leave us to figure out and control the situation. Romans 8:28 is clear in who is doing the work. It is God, Himself.

In these moments, when despair and devastation abound, I am reminded of

Exodus 14:14…

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”

This verse came out of a declaration over the Israelites by Moses. The recently freed nation was being unexpectedly chased by the Egyptians. They found themselves in a desperate situation, trapped between the Red Sea and the angry army to whom they were once enslaved. The unfortunate event seemed desperate. There was no good choice in the natural as to how to proceed. Yet in this moment Moses spoke divine direction that rings true to us as we embrace the work stage of our own Red Sea circumstances.

It’s the Lord who fights for us. We need only be still.

That doesn’t mean we do nothing, but what it does mean is that we take our cues from Him, as we allow our hearts to be still clinging to the knowledge that He is good, wise and working on our behalf. In fact, the Israel nation had to move towards the Red Sea. They were not literally still, but they were obedient. And in return the Lord not only parted the waters, but fought off the Egyptians. Next, as we allow Him to work, we must also choose to spend more energy attaching our truth to His character rather than our circumstances.

This is a very difficult place to be.

For me, the emotions surrounding my situation feel so much more real than who I know in my mind my Lord to be. I can admit that for most of my adult life I have allowed my emotions to rule. I have certainly called God unfaithful a time or two when overcome by the disappointments in my personal life. I have spent countless hours claiming that He must not really love me if He is allowing extreme challenges to come my way. What I can tell you is that God can handle all of these moments of doubt. With each childlike tantrum I have exhibited, He has stood by, ready and willing to speak to my heart when I was ready.

He is gracious in that way.

But over time I have realized the energy and time that is wasted in this childish behavior. Instead, I have learned that I can admit my hurt and anger to Him in a way that invites Him to minister to my soul. It’s an exchange that deepens my relationship with Him and brings healing.

It’s the better way and it invites Him to begin His work in me and my situation.

As He begins His work, we have to recognize that it will be messy.

Think about anything in the work stage. A cake being made from scratch leaves a kitchen covered with flour and mishandled egg yolk on the countertops. A house being constructed starts out with clearing land, setting a foundation that is neither attractive nor glamorous, and hanging drywall that is anything but interesting in its appearance.

Whether in baking or building, the mess of the work is necessary for the good of the final product.

The work is essential. There is no skirting around it.

In the same way, we can’t get to the good without the work.

My sweet friends will not be able to get to the good of their new family without the work that God is doing even now while they are still in the hospital, almost a month after their son was born. I can’t get to the good of what is my Mom’s legacy without dealing with the grief I have now in missing her.

We must allow God to work if we want to see the good He has for us.

Lastly, we have to recognize that this good He is working out in us is not only for us in the present, but for His purposes for our future.

When we lost our first child 17 years ago, I remember many people bringing this verse to my attention. I wasn’t ready to receive it.

How could it be good for me to have lost our first baby to stillbirth?

However years later, as His work has been done in David and me, we have seen much good. But the good has not just been for us.

God’s working towards the common good is not just for healing and wholeness, but for purpose.

I look at the landscape of my life and for every tough situation He has allowed, He has also given me a greater area of understanding that allows for purpose.

The Bible tells us that…

“He comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Cor. 1:4)

What does this mean?

It means that when we allow God to work and bring comfort, we are also opening the door for Him to use us down the road as other people come into our lives, dealing with similar pains. This past semester in our small group we had another couple who lost a baby. It was overwhelming for me to think that as we dealt with our grief in losing Charlie seventeen years ago, God saw a couple who would one day need us to walk with them in their own mourning.

What an honor to not only allow God to work in our situation, but then to be able to work in the lives of those in our community.

We live in a fallen world in which the unimaginable and crushing can happen in an instant. That is a truth I would rather ignore.

However, as believers we are covered by a God who understands the reality of our situation, and doesn’t turn His head. Rather, He meets us in our time of need, invites us to let Him work, and then ushers in good beyond what we could have ever imagined.

Praise be to God that He doesn’t just leave us in our fallen state.

Praise be to Him for His ability to work for our good.