There are some of God’s children who have been tricked into thinking that God has the worst in store for them. They expect the worst to happen to them in this life, and they are without confidence as they face the future. They think about God’s will for their lives and they are thoroughly frightened. They cannot enjoy the present with God because they expect the worst to come in the future. They cannot really believe that God loves them. They love Him in an active sense, but they think of Him as an old wicked Being who is looking around to see where they have fallen so that He may punish them.
Let me assure you most certainly that God is not like that. He is the God of love. He is all-loving. The Bible says that He is love. A loving Father can only have a wonderful plan for the life of the child He loves. You are that child. God loves you. He loves you in an unchanging way. His love does not alter when your own love for Him falters!
One hymn writer put His love this way:-
“Mine is an unchanging love,
Higher than the heights above;
Deeper than the depths beneath,
Free and faithful, strong as death.”
About His plans for your life, His eternal Word says:
“For l know the plans have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and l will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
“l will instruct you and teach you the way you should go, l will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).
“The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me; thy steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever. Do not forsake the work of thy hands” (Psalm 138:8).
“We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren… What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered’” (Romans 8:28-36).
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For l am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).
The Basis on Which God Works
God does not work on the basis of His feelings although His feelings are perfect. Even if He were to work on the basis of His feelings, all that He did would be consistent, because His feelings are consistent with His being. He works on the basis of His knowledge. Thus, He says, “l know the plans l have for you….” So God works on facts.
The Basis on Which We Enjoy God’s Promises
Many believers are governed by their feelings. This ought not to be so. We are to be governed by God’s facts, irrespective of our feelings. The apostle says, ‘We know….” He did not say, “We feel.” As we go on, we must move, not by our feelings, but by our knowledge of God’s facts. This means that we shall uphold what God says, irrespective of what we experience or feel. Our experience could go wrong as well as our feelings, but His Word is infallible.
God’s Great Work on Your Behalf
The Bible says, “In everything God works for good with those who love him; who are called according to his purpose.”
Look, it says that God works in everything for good. When the Word of God says, “everything” it means it. What is included in the everything? It includes:-
1.What you think is good,
2.What you think will lead to good,
3.What you think is a mistake,
4.What you think is bad,
5.What you think is very bad,
6.Etc.
Yes, in everything God works for good. It may be the plan of wicked men. It may be something done by our enemy to frustrate us. It may be meant to do us great harm. The purpose on man’s part may be deeply wicked, but God says that in all these things He will work for good. This gives a beautiful colour, shape, content to even the greatest tragedies in life. The worst disappointment becomes His appointment.
Do you then see that there is no reason to quarrel with people and be bitter with them for what they have done or are planning to do? Do you see the hand of God in everything? Do you see why you should be calm and restful in the midst of all the evil and tragedies of life?
God will work for good in every one of the situations that come your way. Relax. Smile in the face of your present difficulties. God has already taken them into His hands and He is already working out for your good.