There is a spiritual urban legend that has gone around for years. If you have been in Church or been around church in your life you have heard it and when you hear it you will say, "That's not an urban legend. That's true, I have proof." This urban legend is one that usually comes up in the midst of a tragedy, a difficult time, a death or a loss, a breakup or a divorce. Like have you ever had something bad happen to you and people come up to you, and they're well intentioned, they mean good, they're trying to be helpful, and they say things like:
- God must be up to something.
- God doesn't make mistakes.
- You must be very special for God to trust you with this.
- Won't it be great to see how God uses this?
- Isn't it good to know that everything happens for a reason?
Basically each of these statements contain this Urban Legend: Everything happens for a reason. Now on the surface that sounds good, doesn't it. It's supposed to bring comfort when bad things happen. Actually, that's usually when we hear this statement. Your dad dies: Everything happens for a reason. Your boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you: Everything happens for a reason. Your dog runs away: Everything happens for a reason. But is that really true? Does everything really happen for a reason? Now, in one sense, when people say these things to us they are absolutely right. No matter what happens, God is in control. He is the King of the universe. He's a good God.
But that in no way, shape or form means that he's the direct cause of everything that happens. It doesn't mean that everything that happens in our lives is something that he wants to happen. It certainly doesn't mean that everything that he allows to happen is good.
Think about it: God did not cause Satan to rebel. God did not cause Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. God did not cause David to sleep with Bathsheba. God did not force the Roman soldiers to kill Jesus. Or think about this: When the Nazi's killed 6 million Jews, did that happen for a reason? When the Tsunami killed 150,000 Indonesians, did that happen for a reason? Did 9/11 happen for a reason?
Let's make it more personal. Did you're parents getting a divorce happen for a reason? Did your breakup with your boyfriend or girlfriend happen for a reason? Did the abuse that happened to you when you were a kid happen for a reason? Was God behind all of that? Does everything that happens happen for a reason?
Many of you are thinking of Romans 8:28 rignt now. This is a verse that is used in funerals, or when tragedy strikes, to bring comfort to those who are suffering. But does it really say that everything happens for a reason?
No verse gets misquoted more often when it comes to trying to make sense out of life's trials. Christians and non Christians who have a nodding acquaintance with the Bible quote it more than all the other verses combined. It's the favorite proof text for the everything-is-good-if-you-wait-long-enough crowd. It's plastered on coffee mugs, posters, greeting cards, and all kinds of Jesus junk.
But Romans 8:28 doesn't say or mean what most people think it does. In fact, as we're going to see, it doesn't even apply to a large percentage of those who turn to it for comfort.
The verse in KJV says: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." THe KJV is more confusing that accurate. The verse does not say that everything is good but that God works in all things.
This promise for a specific kind of person. It's a person who's supposed to meet two important criteria. What are they? They are to be someone who (1) Loves God, and (2) has been called according to his purpose. Now who is that? Who are those people?
Jesus is pretty clear about what a person who loves God is. Look at this verse in John 14:15, this is Jesus talking: If you love me, you will obey what I command. So you tell me, what characterizes somebody who loves God? Obedience. So first, this verse applies to those who are obedient, because that's what it means to love God. Second, that phrase, who have been called according to his purpose, refers to those people who have become followers or disciples of Jesus.That leaves out a lot of people. That may leave you out. It leaves out the person you work with who has no interest in spiritual things but just found out she had her third miscarriage. God loves her, yes. God has a preferred future for her if and when she turns to Jesus. But Romans 8:28 has nothing to say to her present heartache. These conditions also leave out the really nice guy who lives next door to you, who you've been trying to witness to, you've been inviting him to church, who lost his job a month ago and may have to foreclose on his house. When you tell him that God must have something better for him, it might make both him and you feel better, but it's wishful thinking. God doesn't promise that to those who aren't followers of Jesus, no matter how nice they are. Some Christians are even left out of this. Like, if you are living in deliberate disobedience to God in some area of your life, God doesn't promise that he's going to step in and fix the mess that your disobedience has created.
Larry Osborne talks of a time when he was meeting with the parents of a Pregnant Teen. They wanted to know how to best handle the situation. At one point they said, "We're not sure why God let this happen, but it is good to know he has a reason." Well unless we're dealing with another virgin birth God didn't have anything to do with it.
He tells of a former drug addict friend of his. He was now a Christian but was struggling with the symptoms of Hepatitis C. The onslaught of his disease is not a good thing. It is not God's blessing in disguise. It is the tragic consequences of past actions. Actions he regret, actions he has been forgiven for but ones he is paying for.
There is beauty and promise in Romans 8:28, but it's not that everything that happens to us is good and is from God. It's that no matter what happens to us or how bad things get that God's ultimate and eternal purposes won't be foiled. And for those who love God, who are obedient to him, and who have been called according to his purpose, God can take tragedy and bad things and overcome them.
