What pain do you face? What storm are you going through? As Christians, we often recite some part of Romans 8:28 to each other: “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 (NIV).” What does this mean? And how is the verse applied?
This passage hit home to me when I first became involved in persecution ministry decades ago. Three Christians were slain in Turkey by young radical Muslims. It was a horrific case that made worldwide headlines.
During a nationally televised interview, the wife of one of the slain men said that, in part, because Jesus forgave her, she was called to forgive the murderers. That statement sent shockwaves through the Turkish culture and did “more than 1,000 missionaries could do over 1,000 years” according to one television commentator.
God reached down into the filth of that horrible situation, mixed it with His tears, and created a paste and mud and put it on the eyes of the Turkish people. When they opened their eyes for the first time they saw the Lord, the Savior, the one who could forgive all their sins. The one who is with us amid our greatest pain.
And the one who can redeem the most heinous acts such as this senseless murder and carry us through. They saw all this for the first time.
God is always there, the great Redeemer, to take the worst things and turn it into good.
He will do that for you. Trust Him today!
May God bless you.