All Things Work Together
I’m always so excited when I get the opportunity to write on a special day. Sometimes, I get so excited about preparing what I’m going to say that I completely forget to post the blog. Today was definitely one of those days.
You see, I have this little bit of a crazy way of memorizing scripture that my Mamma taught me when I was young. You associate the reference of a passage in Scripture with a time or date. Today’s might be quickly evident to many of you, Romans 8:28. Now how’s a girl to help but get inspired with a passage like that for the day. For those who do not quickly recall the passage, here you go:
Romans 8:28 (KJV) from BibleGateway.com
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
In my divided little life, each verse has been separated from the ones that came before, and the ones that follow. And because I studied only the KJV until I had completed college and become “mature” and “responsible,” I thought this was how all of life should be. I separated every compartment of my life and tried to make sure that none of them ever touched. As I entered my adulthood, I began to meet people from different backgrounds and beliefs. I found that so many of them read other versions of the Bible that were easier to understand, and I really began to struggle with it. I knew that my Mamma had “reference books” of other versions of the Bible, but those were just to get a perspective, not to actually learn from, for goodness sakes.
As I read more, I realized that other versions also had different breakdowns among the passages. Some would end a verse at one place, and some at another. Eventually, I learned that the Bible was not written as chapter and verse, but more as a letter. It was then that I began to look at a bigger picture. Probably one of the best parallel writings that I have found is the Message. At times, it can seem a little more relaxed than I am comfortable with, but the point that it gets across always amazes me. It almost seems as if Jesus had turned the entire Bible into parables so that we could relate to it.
Take a look with me now at The Message version of the same passage. It backs up and includes verses 26-28, and suddenly the passage is so much deeper than I had anticipated.
Romans 8:26-28 (MSG) from BibleGateway.com
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Looking at just verse 28, I had always kind of assumed that God was just going to kinda fix everything in His magical mystical ways that are beyond my understand. And I learned to come to terms with it. But, oh the joy, I was reading it out of context. What the greater passage was actually telling me was that before I ever get to the point that I need to have all things working together for good, I’m going to have to go through a lot of pain, frustration, confusion and tears. Sounds like a downright party, doesn’t it? Well, probably not, but it is a pretty good description of our lives a lot of the time. I don’t know about you, but I don’t get a lot of opportunities to sit in a beautiful meadow on a temperate afternoon with the perfect amount of shade and a fresh squeezed lemonade. But I still live.
When was the last time that you stopped to think that every sigh you make, every groan that escapes your throat is turned into a prayer that the Holy Spirit translates to our precious Abba Father? For as much as I groan and grumble, that must keep Him pretty busy just with my constant dilemmas. But He doesn’t ever give up on us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Now that says something to me because there is the me that I know, and the one that everyone else around me sees, and they can be quite different because I try to protect the world from myself as much as possible. But there are still many things that I turn a blind eye towards, or try to cover over. And HE still knows all those things about me. And he sees me as a pregnant mother. Having three children, I can definitely relate to that condition. I thought I did really well with my pregnancies, but everyone around me disagreed. I was irritable, cranky, needed constant checkups, and ultimately particularly high-risk. And that is how The Spirit sees my spirit all the time. Imagine that grace and love that He has for each of us. That he can see everything that we’ve hidden, sift through it all, hear our inner conflict and take those fears and worries to Abba Father to ask for mercy and grace on our behalf.
What a difference it makes to look around and connect with others around, and to connect passages of Scripture with the ones around them. I am humbled to realize that the precious Spirit loves me enough to constantly listen to me, and to share my needs in a way that they can be met.
Have you experienced this grace in your life? Why not share it with me?
I would be nothing if not for the precious grace of God.
I am thankful that He knows my needs at all times, even if I cannot express them properly.