I’m never sure why the desire to post something doesn’t come to me before 10PM, but invariably I find myself HAVING to share something and I look up and the clock says 11:30”PM”, but I press on to write and put to computer screen the thoughts that fill my head about something I just read that prompted me to think about what was discussed the night before at community group or was said in a sermon and that reminded me of a discussion I recently had with someone. It all comes together in my head and I’m bound and determined to write it down and share it before it’s relegated to some file drawer that will soon be buried in my memory, or the pieces scatter until I can’t remember what thought prompted what and what led to what…Anyway.
We were discussing Acts 16, where Paul and Silas had just shared the gospel with Lydia and shortly thereafter were beaten and thrown into prison. And they’re singing! In prison! It was powerful that even in the midst of such pain and suffering, they were singing psalms and praying. They had been doing good, they were preaching and sharing the Gospel. And now they were in prison. And we read they were praying and singing psalms. Their focus was on God. The discussion then led us to Romans 8:28 and we talked about the meaning of “good.” What does it mean to work for good? Good for whom? What is good?
And then I shared briefly about the young couple that I knew and the husband had recently been in a biking accident and was facing the prospect of life in a wheelchair. Life for this young couple had changed drastically in an instant and yet, when I saw the wife at their church recently, I saw a woman possessed of the peace that passes understanding.
And then tonight I found this. I had been thinking of this young couple and was reminded of a story I had heard some time back and I searched and finally found this article on Desiring God. It shared briefly the story of this man, Benjamin Warfield, who spent 39 years, practically the entirety of his marriage, caring for his wife who, on their honeymoon, had been struck by lightning and paralyzed. He cared for her while he was teaching at Princeton Seminary and rarely left her side during their entire marriage due to her infirmity, until her death. and then this article shared what he wrote about Romans 8:28:
The fundamental thought is the universal government of God. All that comes to you is under His controlling hand. The secondary thought is the favour of God to those that love Him. If He governs all, then nothing but good can befall those to whom He would do good…. Though we are too weak to help ourselves and too blind to ask for what we need, and can only groan in unformed longings, He is the author in us of these very longings…and He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us. (Faith and Life, 204)
That’s what I found powerful and what I want to share. As always, I pray it makes sense and I pray it blesses and encourages and exhorts.
All Things Elda 