“And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Paul’s assurance in his letter to the Romans is one of the most quoted and least understood passages in the New testament. When some people hear the verse, they flare up in anger because they think Paul is saying the traumatic event they’ve just experienced is good. But that’s not at all what he’s saying.

Paul is inviting us to remember in every situation, even the most painful ones, the final results of our lives tapestry. We should remember that the God of love, wisdom, and strength has the ability to weave the dark threads of our lives in with the light-colored ones to produce something beautiful. In our pain, all we can see in the back of the fabric, but we can be assured that God will produce something fine out of it.

Although God promises to work things for our good, the promise of the verse isn’t that things will work out the way we want them to. God is the weaver and events are the threads. Our lives are just the loom on which He works to create His masterpiece. In many cases, we find that God’s design is either quite different from what we hoped, dreamed, or even contemplated. We can either follow the design He has planned, or we can continue to demand our own way. One leads to life and peace, the other, to anger, and despair. Choose wisely, with faith in God and His design.

God is too good to be unkind; too good to be mistaken. When we cannot trace His hand, we can trust His heart.