Surrender to His Goodness


One of my favorite promises in scripture is found in Romans 8:28, which reads; “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”.  I take great comfort in this verse.  The promise that all things can be “worked together for good” gives me hope in the places where my life is anything but good.  Here in Romans 8:28 I am reminded that God is in the business of restoration and redemption.  Things do not need to remain the same.  Redemption is the turning of something that was intended to bring harm into a blessing.  The negative circumstances in my life can be re-worked by God to bring about goodness.  The promises of Romans 8:28 is aimed at those who “love God and are called according to His purpose”.  This is critical because our relationship with God is based on love and surrender.  God loves us and we find rest and surrender in that love.  Part of our love back to God is the faith that His heart towards us is good. 

This brings the challenge of Romans 8:28 – we must trust in God’s version of “good” for us!  Often we think of this verse and the amazing promise it contains as a guarantee of our happiness.  We want to believe that God will work out all the difficulties in our lives, bringing them to a resolution that is good.  But perhaps we have a rather narrow view of what that resolution should be.

Have you heard the analogy of God being a potter, with us, His followers as the clay?  There is an old praise song with this image in its lyrics as well.  The image comes from this verse; “But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand”.  It is found in Isaiah 64:8, and it is a good picture to link to the promise of Romans 8:28  If we have faith that God will work the adversity in our life for good, we must also trust Him to be the one that forms us and molds the circumstances in our lives.  We must be surrendered, teachable, yielded; like clay.  We cannot be the potter and the clay! 

Surrender requires faith.  We must trust that God’s version of “good” will indeed be good to us!  When we have hope because we believe that God can work the adversity in our life into goodness, we are dependent on Him and on His vision for our lives.

There is one last scripture that I need to connect to this picture we are forming of surrender.  Hebrews 11:6 says this; “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him”.  This verse bring clarity to our faith as we surrender to God.  Faith requires that we believe God exists and that He is good to those who seek Him.  We must have faith, not just in the good nature of God, but also in the way that He responds to us specifically.  God’s good nature is focused on us, His people. 

The promise of Romans 8:28 assures us that God can turn the adversity of our lives into goodness and blessing as we seek Him.  Pursuing God requires faith in who He is, His power to work in our lives and His love to bless and reward us.  We surrender to God being the potter, the one who’s hands form us and the circumstances of our lives.  Our trust in His love and intention towards us allows us to surrender to His vision for our lives.

 

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