Featured this month is Reverend Rob Pierce, the pastor of Latta Baptist Church, Latta.

“Understanding God in the Circumstances of Life”

One of my favorite verses in all of scripture is Romans 8:28-30.

Romans 8:28-30
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.  [29] For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; [30] and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Do you know why I like these verses so much?  Because they assure me that God is in control and I am not.  It assures me that He has a purpose and a plan for every circumstance in my life and nothing catches God by surprise.
He allows me to go through different circumstances in life in order for me to be “conformed to the image of His Son.”  He allows me to go through different circumstances because I’m going through a process the Bible calls sanctification, because I’m growing in God’s grace and knowledge and the different circumstances that I’ve been through will help me help somebody else.  It is my prayer that they will experience the glorification that you can only experience when you’re surrendered to Jesus.
But understand this truth from Romans 8:28-30:  it is only for those that love God.  The promise is only for believers.  This truth is one of the main things that separate a believer from a non-believer.
We simply don’t understand the circumstances of life, especially if we are going through a difficult time right now.  It’s impossible to understand what we are going through when our focus is on the crisis instead of the cross.
This truth about our circumstances comes directly from the word of God.  You may have heard the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors.  Read about his adventure in Genesis 37.  There are some principles in this story that apply to your life and to my life today.
If you know the story, you know that Joseph was mistreated.  Make no mistake about it, Joseph’s brothers hated him very much.
Why did they hate him?  He’s 17 years old, he’s out working with his brothers, and Joseph brought a bad report about them to his Father.  Now, we don’t know what the report was, but we do know some history of the brothers and Joseph felt it was necessary to alert his Father.
In verse 3, we see another reason Joseph was hated:  a coat of many colors made for him by his father.  This made his brothers jealous.  He had a coat and they did not.  Jealousy is a poison, and it has affected every person in one way or another.

Proverbs 14:30
A tranquil heart is life to the body, But jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

His brothers also hated him because, according to verse 4, their Dad loved Joseph more than them.  Jacob had shown favoritism.  This is a big deal.  Favoritism is not right.  In fact, it’s wrong.
Then, look at verse 5, back in Genesis 37.  Joseph had a dream, he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more.  Now, make no mistake about it, his brothers could have laughed at him and said, “Man, that roasted duck you had for supper last night made you have some weird dreams,” but they did not.
Why?  Because God was somehow involved in those dreams, but that wasn’t the end of it.  Hated by his brothers and even rebuked by his father.  Under no real fault of his own, he was wrongfully hated and mistreated.
Now, go back to Romans 8:28-30 and remember, God always has a plan for you.  Even in the midst of being mistreated and hated wrongfully, God is still in control.
I don’t know every detail of what you’ve been through in your life.  I don’t know what you are going through today.  I certainly don’t know what you are going to go through tomorrow, but God knows and He cares.
One day Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers as they were grazing the flocks some distance away.  The brothers got mad and decided to kill him, but instead they just made it look like he was dead and sold him into slavery to make some money.
Now, if you read the rest of the story, you’ll see that the brothers wanted to kill the very man who would later save them from starvation.  That tells me that God has a plan and because He has a plan, we must trust God with all of our heart.
This is hard to do when your loved one is suffering in a hospital room or when the doctor comes in with a diagnosis that isn’t good or when you get the news that you’ve been laid off of your job.
Where is God in all of these circumstances of life?  The answer is that He is absolutely in control.  He is sovereign.  As an example, look at the life of Job.

Job 2:9-10
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity?  Curse God and die!”  [10] But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.  Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?”  In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

I hope this doesn’t offend anyone.  But sometimes, when I hear someone say “God is good!” because they got some good news….I want to say “Amen, God is good all the time, even if your news was bad news.”
God is in control.  His care for you and your circumstances may not be evident immediately in your life, but it will be evident at some point.  You see, even if your situation and circumstances are dark right now, they won’t be forever, if you are in love Jesus.

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.

If you love God, you can have the assurance that God is working in your life and He has a purpose and plan for your life right now.
However, if you’ve never made that decision, today is the day, now is the time.  Surrender your life to Jesus and allow Him to have control today.  If you need help in making this decision, simply call 1-800-633-3446 or go to needhim.org.