This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who
have been called according to His purpose. Welcome to our daily drive-time
devotion to Romans chapter 8. That verse, Romans 8.

28, is one of the most loved and most often quoted verses in all the Bible. It's
a reminder to us that in all things God works for our good. We know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called
according to His purpose.

Verses 29 and 30, "For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed
to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those He predestined, He also called. And those He called, He also
justified.

And those He justified, He also glorified. " When you look at the past
sufferings of Jesus as we looked at the last few days, and then you look at the
future glory of God that we look forward to, one of the questions that remains
is, what about the present? What about what I'm going through in my life right
now?

How do I handle the day-to-day problems that I'm facing? I know I can look to
the past and realize I share in Jesus' suffering. And I know I can look to the
future and realize I'm going to share in God's glory because of His love for me.

But what about the day-to-day now? Well, Romans 8 talks about that also. We know
that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him.

Let me read that verse, Romans 8, 28, in three different translations. I just
read it in NIV, also in the New Century Version. We know that in everything, God
works for the good of those who love Him.

Phillips Version, "We know that to those who love God, who are called according
to His plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. " The message
paraphrase, "We can be sure that every detail of our lives of love for God is
worked into something good. " Now, these are verses about problems.

And when first you ask the question, "What's good about my problems? " I think
the honest answer that most of us come up with is, nothing. That's what's good
about my problems, absolutely nothing.

Well, the problem with that is, we started with the wrong question, the wrong
angle. "What's good about my problems? " Yeah, you're right, nothing is good
about your problems.

They're terrible, sinful things. Problems are an evidence that there is evil in
this world. And if you want, you can drive yourself into bitterness or into
depression, thinking about what an evil place this world can be.

That's the wrong angle, the wrong question. You don't begin by asking, "What's
good about my problems? " You begin by asking, "What good can God work even
through my problems?

" That's the right angle, because God works miracles every day. Every day, He
takes the evil of problems and suffering, and He miraculously transforms them
into good in our lives. Let's just walk through this verse slowly.

Notice that it says, "In all things. " God works for the good of those who love
Him. In all things, not some things, all things.

It's not like there's a limited list of things that God can use to work for good
in your life. He can use anything, and will use anything and everything, if I'll
trust Him with it, if you'll trust Him with it. In all things, God works.

Not you work, not luck works, but God does this work. So you have to trust Him,
you have to lean on Him. In all things, God works for the good.

Notice it says, "Not for your desire, but for the good. " He certainly doesn't
work in all things so that I get what I desire, but He does work in all things
so that good can happen, not only in my character now, but also going forward
into eternity. Not only in my life, but in the life of people that are around
me.

In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, of those who love
Him. Problems work for good as you continually make two vital decisions, to love
the Lord and to seek His purpose, because it says, "To those who love Him who
have been called according to His purpose. " So as I continually make that
decision, I continually see how God is working for the good in all the problems.

I really left out the most important two parts, I think, of this verse. The
first two words at the start of the verse, we know that God works all things
together for good. We know.

The fact is, this truth is true whether you believe it or not. Whether right now
you're believing as a follower of Jesus Christ that God works all things
together for good, God's doing it. This is a promise.

God is working even if you're trying to work against Him, but we do know that we
can be miserable with our problems unless we recognize these first two words. We
know. We know.

We know this. We have a sense of security and peace like never before. What good
can problems work?

Well, here's what they do. They make you like Jesus. We know that God's using
all things to work together for good to conform us to the image of His Son.

These verses in verse 30 talk about whom He foreknew, whom He predestined. Those
are big 25-cent Bible words, theological words. Whom He foreknew, whom He
predestined, whom He called.

These all add up to the fact this is not my plan. This is God's plan. Here's the
answer to the mystery of suffering.

Why would I need to suffer with Christ in order to receive His riches? Why would
He allow me, have me go through that? Because the greatest riches of Jesus are
Himself, Christ revealed in me.

You might be asking, "Are you saying that the suffering I face right now is
making me like Christ in some way that impacts my life, not only now, but also
all the way into eternity? " Are you saying that? That is exactly what I'm
saying.

When you hear of persecution, of a believer in Christ, maybe in another country
facing There is one part of you that says, "I've got to stop that. That is
wrong. " And we should try to stop it with everything that we have.

But as you try to stop it, don't forget to listen to the quiet whisper of God.
The quiet whisper that says, "God, what kind of glory are you building into
their life even as they go through this persecution? " When you see a child's
twisted body and one part of you says, "That is unfair.

That is wrong. " We should do all that we can to change that. We should do all
that we can to comfort that child.

But as you do those things, listen to that quiet whisper, "God, what kind of
glory are you building into their life as they face this suffering? Because life
is not just about this planet. " When you face some of the lesser pains that you
might be facing in your life right now, listen for that whisper, "God, what kind
of glory are you building into my life even through this?

" That doesn't make you a martyr. That doesn't make you invite the pain. That
doesn't make you live with pain that you don't need to live with.

But it does put into perspective the suffering, the pain in life that we cannot
escape. I know as I say this, there's something in all of us that thinks, "I
don't believe it. I don't believe that God could use such suffering for such
glory.

" And I would just say to you, "Yes, you do believe it. " You've affirmed your
belief in that every time you've taken the Lord's Supper, every time you've
taken communion. Think of the suffering that Jesus Christ went through on the
cross, incredible suffering.

And why? For God's glory. For my forgiveness, for your forgiveness.

For us to be together with him forever and eternity. God's glory comes even
through suffering. Then make the suffering good, shows you how glorious and good
God is.

Romans 8, 28 is a verse that many have memorized because it carries you through
some days. When you go through a problem, God, through his Spirit, will bring
this verse to mind to remind you you're not alone. God has a plan even in this.

If you've never memorized this verse, I'd invite you to do that, start that even
this week. For we know that God causes all things to work together for the good,
for those who love him, for those who are called according to his purpose. Let's
pray together.

Lord, you know the problem that we're facing right now. You see it. And Lord,
you promise us in this verse that you're using even this to work for good.

Not to work for my desires, not to work that there would be no more problems on
this planet, but to work for good now and all the way into eternity. Lord, if
we're to see this problem in a new way, if we're to hear that quiet whisper,
what kind of glory are you building even through this? We need your strength to
hear that.

We need your eyes to see that. And I pray that right now you would give us that
strength, give us those eyes, because of your love for us. We pray this
confidently, but also humbly, in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

I invite you not to leave this here, but to stretch your faith. Stretch your
faith this day by taking 15 minutes, sometime during the day, to dream about how
God might transform one problem that you're facing into his glory. As we look
forward tomorrow to continuing this look through Romans, Romans 8, 31 to 34 will
be the verses we look at in this incredible chat.