All Things for Good - Really?

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In this episode, Julie explores the promise of Romans 8:28 and how it applies to our lives, even in the midst of hardship. Through the stories of Joseph and David, we see how God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Julie offers encouragement, practical application, and a reminder to remain humble, faithful, and repentant during difficult seasons.

www.Confidenceingod.com 

Key Topics:

• Introduction to Romans 8:28 and its meaning
• The story of Joseph: From betrayal to blessing
• The story of David: From humble beginnings to king, through trials and failures
• How God’s promises apply to us today
• Practical steps for holding on to faith in hard times
• The importance of humility, faithfulness, and repentance

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hello and welcome to theConfidence in God podcast.
I am your host, Julie McGhghy,and our goal today is to help
you walk with confidence in God.
One of the verses in the Biblemany people like to reference or
quote when someone is goingthrough hard times is Romans
8:28.
Isn't it comforting to know thatGod will work all things out for

(00:23):
good?
Yet, there are times when wejust can't see any good coming
out of our situations, andalthough we can believe the
verse for other people, we havea hard time believing it for
ourselves.
So we're going to take a look ata couple of people in the Bible
who suffered extreme challengesand see if things worked out for

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good in their situations.
And if so, how did they hold onwhen they couldn't see any good?
Before we look at these twobiblical examples, I invite you
to visit my website atconfidenceingod.com, where you
can find resources to help youexperience more confidence in
God generally, and also in yourprayer life, specifically.

(01:10):
I'll drop the link to thewebsite in the show notes for
your convenience.
Let's start by reading Romans8:28.
"And we know that all thingswork together for good to them
that love God, to them who arecalled according to his
purpose." So the promise forgood applies to people who can
answer yes to two questions.

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Do you love God?
Are you called according to hispurpose?
It's generally easy to proclaim,"I love the Lord," thus
confidently answering the firstquestion.
But sometimes we're a littleless certain about the answer to
the second question.
So let's consider what beingcalled according to his purpose

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means.
We know that no person comes toJesus except by being drawn by
God according to John 6:44.
So if you have been drawn to himand you have answered that
calling and entered intosalvation, then you can
confidently answer yes to thesecond question.

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You have been called accordingto his purpose.
Since you are listening to thisConfidence in God podcast, I
trust you have answered yes toboth of these questions, so the
promise of God applies to you.
The first biblical example we'regoing to look at is Joseph.
You can find his story inGenesis throughout chapters 29

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through 50.
Joseph's life started prettywell.
He was the favorite son of hisfather, Jacob, because Joseph
was born in Jacob's old age toJacob's favorite wife.
Jacob had no qualms about openlytreating Joseph as his favorite,
or when he gave Joseph a specialcoat of many colors.

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Also the latter part of Joseph'slife was pretty good.
When he was 30 years old, he wasmade a ruler over Egypt, second
only to Pharaoh.
He lived in the luxury of thePharaoh's court as he managed
the food supply during the sevenyears of abundance that preceded
seven years of famine.
During the seven years offamine, God used Joseph to save

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his family from the famine, thussaving the children of Israel.
From an earthly perspective,Joseph was a hero.
He lived to be 110 years old andwas blessed to see his children
and their children to the thirdgeneration.
At his death, he prophesied thatGod would move the children of

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Israel from Egypt and returnthem to the land, promised to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But what are some of the thingsthat Joseph had to endure,
between that favoritism of hisfather and the luxury and
heroism of his latter years?
When Joseph was 17 years old,his older brothers sold him to

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the Ishmaelites, who sold him asa slave to Potiphar.
Potiphar's wife falsely accusedJoseph of trying to have
inappropriate relations withher, which landed Joseph in
prison.
After interpreting the dream ofthe king of Egypt's butler who
was released from prison, asJoseph had said would happen

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based on his dream, the Butlerforgot all about Joseph and did
not mention him to Pharaoh,which caused Joseph to stay in
prison another two years.
For 13 years from ages 17 to 30,Joseph served as a slave and in

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prison.
These were dark times forJoseph, where nothing appeared
to be good.
He could easily, have askedhimself,"Where's the good?" Now,
let's consider David.
His story is found primarily inthe books of First and Second
Samuel and First Chronicles.

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Like Joseph, David's lifestarted pretty well.
It seems David's life had aquiet beginning.
He was the youngest of eightsons of Jesse.
He was assigned theresponsibility of keeping the
family sheep.
His time with a flock was spentdeveloping a great skill for
music and for fighting lions andbears that threatened the flock.

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David's life was so quiet andunassuming during his early
years as a shepherd that whenSamuel, the judge and prophet of
Israel, visited Bethlehem asdirected by God to anoint the
next king after Saul, Jesse,David's father, didn't even
think to call David when Samuelcalled Jesse and his sons to a

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sacrifice.
After Samuel had considered allof Jesse's sons that were
brought to the sacrifice, he hadto ask Jesse if he had brought
all of his sons as requested.
It was only then that Jesseconsidered calling for David to
come to the sacrifice.
Now, this visit from Samuelchanged the trajectory of

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David's life.
David was around 15 years oldwhen at the sacrifice.
Samuel anointed David to beking, and the spirit of the Lord
came upon him.
However, it was 14 to 15 yearslater when David actually became
King.
Again, like Joseph, David's lifeended well.

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He served God as king for 40years, and he died in peace when
he was 70.
He was known by God as a manafter God's own heart, who would
fulfill all of God's will?
And according to 1 Chronicles29:28,"and he died in a good old
age, full of days, riches andhonor." But what are some of the

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things that David had to endurebetween his quiet beginnings as
a shepherd and the peace, richesand honor of his later years?
Well, certainly he had someearly family woes.
David's own father and brothersthought very little of David as
evidenced by Jesse's neglect tocall David to join him and his
other sons at the sacrificeconducted by Samuel.

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And also the taunting Davidreceived by his brothers when
David spoke full of faithregarding God defeating Goliath.
And there were political woes.
Soon after a high point inDavid's life when he had killed
Goliath with a single stone,King Saul became jealous of
David causing him to flee fromSaul as he sought to kill David.

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Then there were wars fromoutside David's Kingdom.
David's home in the village ofZiklag was destroyed, and his
family and followers werecaptured by the Amalekites while
David was away.
For seven years after beingestablished as King over Judah,
David's Kingdom warred againstthe Kingdom of Israel led by,

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Ishbosheth, who is Saul's son,David warred against the
Philistines to bring the arc ofthe covenant back to the city of
David.
Let's not forget David'spersonal failures and resulting
consequences.
Certainly the adultery withBethsheba and the murder of her
husband.

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The death of the first childBethsheba bore to David.
The rape of the only daughter ofDavid that was named in the
Bible by one of David's sons.
And then the murder of one ofDavid's sons by another of
David's sons, who avenged therape of his sister.
And of course, the sins againstGod.

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Not only the adultery withBathsheba, but also taking a
military census of the Israelitenation, which was an action
strictly forbidden by God.
After his sin with Bathsheba,David humbled himself before God
and repented, and God wasfaithful, as he always will be,

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to forgive David, but thatdidn't eliminate the
consequences of that sin in hisfamily.
During the family upheaval,including the death of the
child, the rape of his daughter,and the murder of his son by
another son, David could easilyhave been asking,"Where is the
good?" Now let's consider ourown lives.

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Do we experience difficultthings in our lives?
Do we sometimes make baddecisions in our lives and fall
into sin just as David did?
And do we sometimes askourselves,"Where's the good?" We
all experience these things.
We all wonder what good is beingworked through the very
difficult times in our lives,even those of our own making.

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Yet God is faithful.
He will do what he says he willdo.
His promises, including thispromise to work all things
together for our good if we lovehim and are called according to
his purpose, are sure.
They will be fulfilled.
God will do it.
But how do we hold on when weare in the midst of the

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difficult times?
The only way to hold on is toremain humble, faithful, and
repentant.
Let's consider Joseph again.
According to Genesis 40:8, wheninterpreting the dreams of the
butler and the baker, Josephexplained that interpretations
come from God.
Joseph clearly remained incommunication with God he

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clearly spent time in prayer ashe was taught as a child.
Otherwise, he would not havebeen able to hear from God and
provide the interpretation ofthe dreams.
Joseph remained humble.
He did not take credit for theability to interpret dreams.
He gave all glory to God andpointed the baker in butler to

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God.
Also, at the end of Joseph'slife, he still had faith in God.
He prophesied that God wouldtake the children of Israel out
of the land of Egypt and returnthem to the land promised to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God truly did work everything inJoseph's life for good, for

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Joseph who remained faithful toGod and served him throughout
Joseph's life, even when livingin Egypt in Pharaoh's service.
Joseph knew he was not a hero.
He knew that he did not stand inthe place of God.
Listen to what he said to hisbrothers when he identified
himself to them in Genesis50:19-20,"Fear not: for am I in

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the place of God?
But as for you, you thought evilagainst me; but God meant it
unto good, to bring to pass asit is this day, to save much
people alive." Josephacknowledged that God worked all
things together for good, evenhis slavery and imprisonment.

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He didn't even have the benefitof the Apostle Paul's teaching
about God's work in our lives.
Yet he knew it to be true.
In the end, God worked all ofthis out for Joseph's good, but
he also worked all of this outfor the good of all of God's
children, which at that timewere the children of Israel.

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Joseph's humility andfaithfulness throughout all of
the good and bad in his lifecreated an opportunity to work
it all out, not only forJoseph's good, but also for
those around him.
Let's consider David again.
In spite of all the early familywoes, the political woes, the

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wars from outside of hiskingdom, the personal failures
and resulting consequences, andthe sin in his life, including
those things that were broughton by David's own selfish
decisions, David remained humbleand faithful to God.
Many of the 73 Psalms known tobe written by David express his

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humility and repentance.
But none as passionately asPsalm 51, which I encourage you
to read.
David wrote it after Nathan, theprophet brought a message from
God instructing David of theconsequences of his sin in 2
Samuel 12:7-12.
Because of David's humility,faithfulness, and repentance,

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God was faithful to workeverything that occurred in
David's life, the good, the bad,and the ugly together for
David's good.
Even better, he worked them alltogether for the good of the
children of God.
So let's reconsider our ownlives.

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We've already determined thatthe promise of Romans 8:28
applies to us if we love theLord and have answered God's
call and entered into salvation.
When we are going throughdifficult season in our lives
and we can't see any good comingout of it, we need only do what
Joseph and David did, which isto remain humble, faithful, and

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repentant.
God will work everything in ourlives for our good.
And better yet, he will work itall together for the good of
your loved ones and his church.
We've covered a lot in a shortperiod of time.
Let me summarize this reallyquickly.
We can be confident that God isgoing to work everything in our

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lives together for good when welove him, and have accepted
salvation through Jesus Christ.
When we struggle throughdifficult times in our lives and
are asking,"Where's the good?"remember Joseph and David and
remain humble, faithful, andrepentant.
Be confident that God will workeverything in our lives for our

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good.
And better yet, he will work itall together for the good of
your loved ones and his church.
I would love to hear from you.
Let me know how you hold onduring the difficult times in
your life.
Share with me your testimony ofhow God has worked a very
difficult situation into goodfor you and your family.

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Now, as I mentioned earlier, Iinvite you to check out my
website at confidenceingod.comto find resources to help you
experience more confidence inGod generally and in prayer more
specifically.
Just click the link in the shownotes and go to the resources
tab.
That's it for today.
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That way more people can findout about it.
Until next time, let's beconfident in this, that he who
began a good work in you will befaithful to complete it.