It's All Good by Steve Keeler
Romans 8:28
"And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who
are called according to His purpose."
"Once upon a time." How long has it been since you
heard a story that began like that once upon a time?
Well, we're going to have one today.
Once upon a time there was a great and mighty king
who ruled deep in the heart of Africa. This man ruled
with complete power over his people.
Ever since birth he cherished one really close friend.
They had grown up together. His constant companion,
help and advisor.
This friend had an outstanding quality, he always
looked on the bright side of things. Whatever
happened, whether it seemed good or bad at the
moment, his friend would invariably comment "This is
good!"
One day the king and his friend set out on a hunting
expedition into the jungle. The king loved to hunt, it
was his favorite pastime.
His friend was always responsible for preparing the
ammunition and guns that they took along on their
safaris.
This time, however, something went terribly wrong.
When the king spotted his quarry and pulled the
trigger, the bullet exploded in the breech of the gun and
completely blew off the king's thumb.
Immediately, the friend wrapped a cloth around the
injury to stop the bleeding as the king howled in agony.
But then the friend committed a fatal error, he looked at
his wounded friend and remarked, "This is good!"
The king became enraged. This was too much. Many
times thru the years he had become irritated at
everything being described as "This is good!" Enough
is enough.
It only made it worse that his friend had prepared the
ammunition in a faulty manner. And then he had the
nerve to utter, "This is good!"
When they returned to their village the king had his
friend thrown into prison. Here in this horrible place he
stayed and his friend never once visited him there.
About a year later the king recovered sufficiently from
his injury to go hunting again.
This time he packed his own guns and prepared the
ammunition himself, and set off alone.
Unfortunately, the king didn't realize that a neighboring,
tribe of cannibals was also hunting nearby and they
were hunting for food.
Suddenly, the king was surrounded by hungry warriors,
they grabbed him and dragged back to their camp.
They tied him to a stake, began to boil water,
constantly poking him with sharp sticks.
Then one of them noticed that he was missing a
thumb. The drums instantly stopped. They untied the
king and forced him out of the camp. He ran home.
You may wonder why was he saved! Well, the
cannibals believed that eating anyone who was less
than completely whole would cause a terrible curse to
fall upon them.
When the king got home he finally remembered his
friend and immediately went to the prison to release
him.
He apologized and said, "You were right, it really was
good my thumb was blown off. That saved my life from
the cannibals. I'm so sorry I put you in prison."
Then his friend said, "No, going to prison was good."
The king didn't understand and asked, "How could
being in this stinky dungeon be good?"
The friend patiently explained, "If I hadn't been in jail, I
would have been captured by the cannibals too and I
unlike you would have been dinner."
That's my "once upon a time" story for you. But this tale
has some real lessons in it for us. In his own way, the
king's friend had found a way to rejoice in all things.
No matter how hard it may seem, as Christians we also
are supposed to rejoice in all things. We are to give
thanks for everything. In essence, like the king's friend,
we are to say, "It's all good!"
In Ephesians 5:19-20 we read, "speaking to one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
always giving thanks for all things in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father"
Believe me, I know that this is an extremely hard thing
to do. Sometimes we get sick or receive a bad report
from the doctor, a friend dies, all types of bad things
happen to us, how can we be expected to give thanks
for everything?
How can we always say, "It's all good!"
One thing that we must learn to do is be patient. We
need to make sure we give the Lord some time.
We should try to understand that although our
circumstances don't appear to be good at the time, we
may have just escaped being dinner to some
cannibals.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, "And we
know that all things work together for good to them that
love God".
In the midst of life's sufferings, in the good and the bad
God is working on every detail of our existence so that
ultimately they will fit into His eternal plan.
A young man once felt there was nothing good about
his life. He raised his arms toward heaven and
shouted, "Lord, I can't go on, my cross is too heavy to
bear."
The Lord replied, "Son, if your cross is too heavy, just
place it here in this room and open that door over there
and pick out any cross you wish."
The man muttered his thanks and eagerly opened the
door to pick out another cross, but he was horrified to
find a room full of huge crosses.
Finally, however, he spotted a tiny cross in the corner
and he said, "I'll take that one."
The Lord replied, "Son, that's the cross you just
brought in."
Sometimes we are more fortunate than we think.
I know it's not always easy, sometimes it seems like we
would choke if we were to say, "It's all good!"
Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18
"We look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen; for the things which are
seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen
are eternal."
My Bible Commentary says this about this verse: "In
the sufferings of life the power of God transforms the
experience of the faithful Christian into glorious
expectation."
My own version would read like this. "Don't worry about
today, the troubles of this life will soon be over and the
joy to come surpasses all understanding and will last
forever and ever!"
All things do work together for good.
Jesus Himself may have been tempted to wonder
about God's plan. How can all this be good? Christ
knew His time on the cross was coming.
We are told in Matthew 26:39 that He prayed in the
Garden of Gethsemane, "My Father, if it is possible, let
this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will."
He knew that all things work together for good.
Nevertheless, He was also facing the cross. That
certainly didn't seem very good.
Jesus put His faith in His Father. And Sunday came.
Up from the grave He arose! Death had been defeated.
He paid the price so we could find salvation from our
sins. That was good!
Jesus lives forevermore and now reigns at the right
hand of God. That is good.!
Some day soon He will come to call us home. That will
be good!
When that day comes, He will show us how all things
did work together for good to them that love God.
And when that day does come, we will able to say
without hesitation "IT'S ALL GOOD!"
Amen!
