Let me call you back to the verse of scripture found in Psalm 139:16. "Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them."   That means He saw you when you were being formed. When all of the genes were being divided and the cells dividing and multiplying and forming and shaping and enriching and becoming something, God saw all that substance and then in His great book He started to outline every day: Day 1, 2, 3, 4498, 11616, 32415.  All my days were written in Your book before there was a single one of them.  Every day.  You think there are accidents?  Not in the child of God's life; there are only incidents.  God intends to use everything that happens in your life for good.  Satan, who is the god of this world, intends to use everything that happens in your life for evil.  The enemy works against you; God is working for you.  Satan wants to do just the opposite and turn everything into rot and ruin.

Let's go to one of the most misunderstood and most often misquoted portions of scripture in the Bible.  Romans 8:28-29, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  For God knows His people in advance and He chose them to become like His Son."  In order for us to understand this portion of scripture we need to take it a phrase at a time.

God causes everything to work for your good is not what it says.  Neither did it say, God causes everything to work out okay.  It didn't say that, even though I hear it a lot.  It does not say that in the midst of all of this there will be a happy ending and they lived happily ever after.  There are many, many unhappy endings in this life.  I hear it all the time, "Well, you know, God is going to bring good out of this."  Wait a minute! That is not what He said.  That is a misquote.  We live in a fallen world that is under the curse.  The Bible says in II Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this world has blinded their minds, so that they believe not, lest the light of this glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them."  In Ephesians 6:12 it tells us about the wickedness that is taking place, principalities and powers that rule the darkness of this world.  Spiritual wickedness in high places.

Here is what you need to catch – the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.  When Lucifer was ejected out of Heaven with a third of the angels, he became the god of this world. There is a difference between world and earth.  World is a system – an evil, rotten, wicked system that is in operation to tear down and destroy and ruin.  That is the world's system.  The god of this world, wickedness in high places, has his cohorts and he has his helpers in high places working with him and for him.  Only in Heaven is everything done exactly the way that God wants it.   Only in Heaven is everything perfect.  Please understand that.  Only in Heaven is everything perfect and that is why we pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."  God's perfect will is done there.

Now let's look at verse 28 and 29 a phrase at a time.

(1) AND WE KNOW.  You'd better know and it had better not be hope so, wishful thinking.  You'd better know.  You'd better know that God is at work in your life because you have chosen to turn your life over to Him.  You'd better know that, not hope that.  The church today is full of people who are hopers, but there are not a lot of them who know that they know beyond a shadow of a doubt.  In many cases it is wishful thinking.  "Well, I hope everything turns out all right," is not the statement that ought to come out of the mouth of a child of God.  "I know that God is going to work in this situation and I know that when He does it is going to be for my growth and for His Glory."  There are a lot of people who do not know that God intends to work in and through everything for their good.

By the way, you may not see immediately the good that God is intending to work out because God does not always instantly answer prayer so that we can see what is happening.  That is where faith comes in.  You must believe that you know that God is going to work in the situation and when the whole thing is over you will know that it was God.  If you don't know that and only hope that, then you need to move into a place and relationship with God where you can say, "I know."  For the child of God it is not wishful thinking or I hope so; it is an absolute certainty because it is based on the truth of a holy, righteous and sovereign God.

(2) THAT GOD CAUSES.  We spoke last time about certain things that are by God's design.  God designed trials and tests of our faith.  God designs opportunities for growth and development.  You must remember that the clay is still in the divine Potter's hands and that the Artist is at work causing it to become what He intends that it should be.  Not always an easy process.  Your life now is not the result of random chance.  Your life now is not fate.  It is not luck.  If you insist on using the word "luck" then the letters must stand for Laboring Under Correct Knowledge.  That is the only kind of luck operating in your life.  There is a master plan and the Master is working the plan.  At 18 years of age I stepped on board the plan.  Others later in life and some very early in their childhood stepped into the plans and purposes of God.  There are some who don't have any idea that there is a plan working.  They don't know God.  They don't know what this life is all about.  They haven't gotten on board yet.  They haven't believed nor confessed nor acknowledged their sin.  They have not come to Him and He has not got His hands on that lump of clay.  That is why the Gospel is "Good News."  That's why it is out there to share with people.  God has a master plan and you can get on board and He can begin to work that master plan in your life.  It is God that works in us now.  He is doing the pushing and shoving.  You and I make mistakes, but God never does.  There is not a mistake anywhere in the master plan.  You and I make mistakes even though we are part of God's master plan.

(3) EVERYTHING.  You have to get this point, because it is very important.  God's plan for your life involves everything that happens to you.  God's plan for your life involves ALL that happens to you.  Your mistakes, your sins, past, present and future, all of your hurts and misunderstandings.  Does that really mean everything, preacher?  Yes, it does.  Does that mean cancer?  Yes!  Does that mean back surgery?  Yes!  Does that include miscarriage?  Yes!  Debt up to my eyeballs?  Yes!  Divorce?  Yes!  If you leave anything out then it is not everything.  He said every thing.  You must understand that.  Everything fits into God's plan.  God can bring good out of even the worst.  God can bring good out of the worst kind of evil and He did that on Calvary.

(4) TO WORK TOGETHER.  That means that this is added to that.  This week is connected to two weeks ago.  Today is added to next month.  That means when you were nine years old added to when you were forty-nine.  Everything to work together.  Everything linked together.  We are so strange in our thinking that we want to take a look at everything as isolated incidents.  They are not.  "How come that happened? That was a crazy quirk of events. That just came out of the blue."  No, they are neither separate nor independent of each other, but they are all together working.  Last year, this week, next year, tomorrow.  The events in your life work in concert in God's plan.  There are no isolated incidents or acts.  They are all connected, interdependent parts of the process of making you more and more like His Son, Jesus Christ.

If you are going to make a cake, for instance, you need flour, shortening, salt, sugar and eggs.  We stir the mixture together.  Trying to eat a mouthful of flour all by itself doesn't taste very good.  Or taking a mouth full of Crisco by itself is not good, or raw eggs.  Insulated, isolated, independent of each other they are not much and don't make much or taste very good, but if you take them all and mix them and put them in a pan and bake them in the oven, voilà!  It's amazing what happens to all those ingredients together!

If you think you are just going through a series of hard luck situations, you need to get your thinking spiritualized and out of the world's way of thinking.  It is a series of things working together for good.  Working together for good, not for evil, not for money, not for reputation, not for position, not for personality, but working together for good.  It does not say that everything in life is good.  It says everything in your life working together can produce good.  It didn't say everything in your life is good or would be good.  Jesus said to us as believers, "Anyone who lives godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution."  That is not good.  He did not say everything in life is good.  Much of what happens in this world is evil and really bad.  It is relatively easy to bring good out of good.  We can do that, but God specializes in bringing good out of that which is evil or bad.

I want you to take a peek at the family tree of Jesus.  Four women are listed in scripture for us to consider.  They are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bethsheba.  Tamar seduced her father-in-law because she wanted to get pregnant.  Rahab was a known prostitute.  Ruth was not even Jewish and broke the law by marrying a Jewish man, and Bethsheba committed adultery with David, which led to the murder of her husband.  You probably are saying, "It doesn't look to me like a dime's worth of good in any one of them."  Not what you would call sterling reputations, but God brought good out of all that bad and Jesus came through that lineage.  God's purpose is far greater that your problem.  Please repeat that.  God's purpose is far greater than my problem.  What God is doing is much more important in the universe than your problem or your pain or predicament.  He can use it all for good, if you'll give it to Him and let Him.

(5) OF THOSE WHO LOVE GOD AND ARE CALLED.  Who can claim the promise?  Those who love God and are called.  Who can stand on the promises of God's Word?  Those who love God and are called.  Guess whose names appear on our will?  Our children.  This Book (the Bible) is the last will and testament of Jesus Christ, Who suffered bled and died, but rose again the third day and is seated at the Father's right hand.  This is His will, and as a believer, you are in it.  Every promise in the book is yours.  They are all yours.  Why?  Because you are His.  Who can claim the promises of God?  God's kids.  Who did He make them to?  His children.  To those who love God and are called.  That's what makes the salvation message and the importance of getting that message out so incredibly important.  You can't claim that promise if you don't belong to Him.  You won't be in the judge's chamber when my will is read because you are not my children.  They are in my will.

The Bible says we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ and we have access to what is in the Book, because it is God's promise to those who love Him and those who are called.   I hear people say all the time, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," but they don't know God.  They have no clue, but they have heard this and memorized it and repeat it.  When did your name appear on the family register and when was it that you found yourself in the place where you love God and are called?  Those are the ones who can claim the promises.  We think that God is all inclusive and that no matter how you live your life, as self-centered and as careless as you please, you can still claim the promises of God's Word and believe that God is going to honor that promise to you and you don't even know Him.  You have never been born into the family of God.  You don't have access to those promises.  They are for those who love God and are called.  All things work out bad for those who do not know God, do not love God and are living out their own selfish lives.  There are certain things reserved for the children of God, the family of God and for the believers which are exclusively theirs.  The only promise in this Book for an unbeliever is, "If you will believe in your heart and confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, thou shalt be saved."  Now every other promise in the Book is yours, but until that point they are not.

The Word of God, the promises of God, are for the children of God.  They are family.  I have made promises to my children and it is all written down and documented.  When you look at your position and you can claim what the scripture says – I didn't say explain, I said claim.  I didn't say that you understand, I said you can claim – "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things pass away, behold all things become new." You have confessed your sin and invited Jesus into your heart to become your Lord and Savior.  You have turned your life, to the best of your ability and understanding, over to God to meddle around in it for the rest of your life.  If you have ever done that, then the promises of God are yea and amen to you, a believer.  The question is, are you sure that you are on the family register?  If you are not sure, you need to get there and get there fast, because you are going to need the promises of God to stand on and to face the days to come.

(6) ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.  What is His purpose?  God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance – Purpose #1.  He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  No one ever gets to hell without stumbling over the love of God and making a decision to get there themselves, because God has demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  What is God's purpose when you are in pain?  That we might be conformed to the image of His Son.  Then no matter what we are going through, it might bring us into a closer reflection of His Son, the Lord Jesus.  What is His purpose when I am in debt up to my eyeballs?  That my faith might grow and be strengthened and that I may understand the areas of correction and prioritizing.  We want to exclude some of those favorite things out of our lives and not include them in the all things working together for good.  What is His purpose when you lose a loved one?  When we get bad news from our doctor?  What does God want to accomplish working all these things together and going through all the things you are going through?  What is it all for?  Verse 29 says, "That we might be conformed to the image of His Son."

I was counseling someone recently and it seemed that for these people it was out of the frying pan and into the fire, out of the fire and into the frying pan, and then living in the smoke for a while, then the fire intensifies for a while, and on and on it goes and my question was, "Are you learning anything as you are going along?"  What is God trying to say to you about your trust level, about your faith level, about your love?  What is He saying to you about your commitment?  What is He revealing to you about all these things so that you can become more and more conformed to the image of His Son?  Are we just going through them and wiping the sweat off our brow and saying, "Thank God I came through that one," or have we seen it as part of the all things that work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose?  Have you allowed it to work toward God's purpose in allowing you to become more and more in character like His Son, the Lord Jesus?  That is what God is doing.  Everything that God allows to happen in your life is permitted for one great and eternal purpose and that is that we might be conformed, or better yet, to conform your character to the image of Christ.  We used to sing a little chorus back home that says, "To be like Jesus; all I ask, to be like Him.  All through life's journey from earth to glory, all I ask is to be more like Him."

It is all for your growth and for His glory, and His plan is guaranteed to succeed.  It will finally be completed when you get into Heaven.  God's goodness and grace doesn't mean that you will never be hurt.  The question is, "What are you going to do with the hurt and what are you going to allow the hurt to do to you?"  You can do one of two things, get bitter or get better.  It depends on how you respond to the hurt.  Someone trespasses against you and you can hold it against them and let it do a slow burn inside and the only thing it is doing is having an adverse effect on you, but they could care less.  They have moved on and don't remember who you were or the incident, but you are letting it burn and fester inside and it is negatively impacting your life, because you haven't given it to God as one of the "ALL THINGS."  The ALL THINGS that work together for good.

God allows the difficulty because He is more interested in your character than in your comfort.  He wants to perfect you, not pamper you.  Sometimes we don't quite understand that.  His goal for your life is holiness, not happiness.  Some people think it is just the opposite.  They say, "God is obligated to make me happy."  No, He is obligated to make you holy.  That is the reason why, when you became a child of God, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you, to make you more like Him.  He always values the spiritual over the material, because what you become is going to last forever.