All Things

A few days ago Oswald Chambers, the writer of words written over one hundred years ago did it again.  He opened a window through which I had been looking for a lifetime.  Each time I had looked through the panes of that window, I saw the same thing.  But, a few days ago while reading the words, "The circumstances of a saint's life are ordained by God.  In the life of a saint, there is no such thing as chance,"  something different was seen. The Scriptural basis for the words of this devotional from "My Utmost for His Highest"  was Romans 8:28 which says, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God..."    Of course, there is more, but those words were all it took to open my eyes to something new.      

Perhaps, you are like me when it comes to Romans 8:28.  It is a great verse to read in times of trouble.  In fact, I cannot remember a time when I read those words and did not appropriate its meaning to some kind of difficulty through which I was experiencing.  It is, after all, a great word of comfort in the face of overwhelming difficulty.   But, this last reading and I have been reading Chambers for over fifty years caused me to stop and consider those words, "all things."   

All things can be a reference to the unthinkable, but it can also speak of the moments of great blessings in our lives.  It can speak of the way that God places us in ordinary situations and common place relationships for some purpose which is greater than we could ever conceive.  Even in the good times, He can be seen working toward some greater good in our life.  What we may think of as filled with goodness may only be a prelude of how God is using the circumstances of our life to bring us into a place of even greater blessings, or it may be a way that He works to lead someone we hardly know into a place of such abundant grace that their life is turned upside down.