There is a verse we all know and use from time to time. Romans 8:28.

 ²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, King James Version)

I used to think this verse was just a catch all for every thing that happens in this life. It’s thrown around like a baseball when everyone has a problem. I don’t see this verse that way at all. I know I think differently but I realized a long time ago that God gets to define good. What I might think is or isn’t good isn’t necessarily good. So many things in life happen and it seems to be devastating to the person you watch going through a rough season. I have experienced this first hand with several hard situations.

The conclusion I have always come to is this. God is good and gets to write my story for His glory. Joseph who had been sold into slavery said this. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. We have to understand that there is not instant relief to the “good” process. Sometimes it is a season that last for an undetermined amount of time. Some of the molding we go through also refines us and defines us as God seeks to make us more like His Son.

Think about that in light of the messes we make. We mean some things for evil, our hearts are desperately wicked and the Bible says even we can’t know it. So when we see a verse like this we might want to think it’s just dandy that there is a happy ending. It truly is great that where sin did abound grace did much more abound. I truly love that God said that.

What I am trying to say is this. The good that works out is not about my happiness or my comfort. God is more concerned with my character than pleasing me and giving me a rosy posy hand all the time. He cares that I grow and learn life’s lessons even at 50. I am blessed beyond all measure even in the storms. There is peace in knowing He is God and I am not. That he works continually on my behalf in His good pleasure and good timing. Indeed God is good.