Daily Manna · Day 83 · March 24
Working Together
“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.”
Someone may say this verse to you at a funeral, and it can land like a brick.
Picture the room. There are folding chairs and a table of food nobody is eating. Someone who means nothing but kindness holds your arm and says, "All things work together for good." You know that what happened was not good, and you would be lying if you agreed. But you cannot say so there.
So look at what Paul actually wrote: "all things work together for good." He is speaking about where the whole story is going, and he never calls each piece of it good. Paul also puts two limits around it: it is "to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Then, most important of all, he tells us what the good is in the very next verse, so nobody has to guess: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." That is the good he means: God will make you like Christ. Paul is promising more than a better outcome, a lesson learned or a silver lining. That is a harder promise than the one people quote, and it is a far better one. You do not have to call a death good in order to believe it.
Nothing is wasted, though not everything is explained. Paul promised the first of those, and he never promised the second.
So this week, do not hand this verse to a grieving friend. Sit with them, bring food, and stay past the point where it gets awkward. Let the verse rest.
Then take the verse for yourself, and ask the question that really is yours to answer. If the good God has promised is making you like His Son, is that a good you would have chosen, or one you would argue with? Either way, the promise stands. God is working, and what He is making is Christ in you.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 83 is Both to Will (Philippians 2:13).