Life
is not the random mess which it may sometimes appear.
We
do not always understand what God is doing, let alone welcome it. Nor are we
told that he is at work for our comfort. But we do know that in all things he
is working towards our supreme good. And one of the reasons we know this is
that we are given many examples of it in scripture. For instance, this was
Joseph’s conviction about his brother’s cruelty in selling him into Egypt: “You intended to harm me, but God intended
it for good…the saving of many lives. Similarly, Jeremiah wrote in God’s
name a letter to the Jews in Babylonian exile after the catastrophic
destruction of Jerusalem: “I know the
plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The same concurrence of Human
evil and divine plan had its most conspicuous display in the cross, which Peter
attributed both to the wickedness of man and to ‘God’s set purpose and
foreknowledge’-- Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put
to death
From:
John R W Stott, The
Message of Romans
