We Know

The Word says, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose."  (Romans 8:28)  It is a word we all know, one that we have all quoted from time to time, and one that is tossed about in the church community rather freely.  I wonder about the basis for our knowing.  Do we know that this is true simply because it is written on the pages of Scripture?  No one would doubt the rationale of that basis for knowing.  And even if this is our basis for knowing, I still wonder if we often throw out the word without really understanding what it is that we are declaring.    

To speak of knowing implies a confidence more than just knowledge.  It points to a knowing that is based not just on what someone has written, or said, but something which is also known through the crucible of human experience.  Are we not more likely to pay more attention to someone who is in the fire instead of listening to someone who talks about being in the fire even though they bear no singe markings?  This is not to say that we cannot live with confidence in this Word from Romans without the singe markings, but we do need to be careful about the way we glibly and too quickly throw out this word to someone who is suffering.   

When the Apostle Paul wrote, "We know," he knew from personal experience.  He knew what the Spirit was saying to Him as he sat with pen in hand, but he also knew that what was being divinely spoken in his spirit had been tested in the fires of his own life.  He knew it was true.  We must never forget that the one who is struggling in suffering is living in a world that is unknown to many of us and that such a  person is going to have a perspective that transcends any casual familiarity with this very powerful and meaningful Word of God.  They may know what we think we know.