All Things Work Together for Good
We were speaking last week about the story of Jonah the Prophet. And I would like to observe in this story an important spiritual principle, which the Apostle Paul explained when he said: “All things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom 8:28). About this verse, we would like to speak today…
All Things Work Together for Good¹
In the story of Jonah there are many troubles, all of which ended in good…
Jonah was swallowed by the whale, but he benefited from the experience, and it ended in good. He learned obedience from it. The people of the ship were struck by the waves, and the ship was about to capsize, and they threw some of their cargo into the sea. But this tribulation ended in good: they prayed, made vows, offered sacrifices, and believed in the Lord…
The Book of Jonah the Prophet gives us the idea that all things work for good.
If it were not for these tribulations, the people of the ship would not have believed, Jonah’s condition would not have been corrected, and Nineveh would not have repented…
Every work that God does must lead to good, because God is the Maker of good things. Even if the matter is not good in itself, God must transform it into good…
The story of Joseph the Righteous is a wonderful proof that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord…
A man is exposed to the envy and cruelty of his brothers and is sold by them as a slave. And despite his amazing faithfulness in his service, accusations are fabricated against him, and he is thrown into prison… Yet all things were working with him for good. And behold, this prison led him to the highest ministerial position in Egypt. Even the affairs of his brothers also turned out for good, for they repented, confessed their sin, and wept…
The Holy Bible says that God brings sweetness out of the eater…
But all of this is for those who love the Lord, for those who believe in God’s good work, His love, His good providence, and His care for human beings.
What shall I say? … Even sin, which gives birth to death and destruction, God—who brings sweetness out of the eater—can transform its results into good…
Adam sinned and was expelled from Paradise and deserved death… But God, through redemption, transformed this death into good… because through the general resurrection we will be transformed into a better state. We will rise with spiritual, luminous bodies, far better than Adam’s condition in Paradise, and than the body of this death…
Thus even death, which people hate, works together for good…
Therefore the Apostle Paul said about it: “that is far better,” because it leads to communion with Christ and the company of the saints. Through it we will reach “what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man”… to a state far better than the condition of Adam and Eve in Paradise.
The death over which people grieve and wear black was the direct cause of the monastic life of Saint Anthony and the establishment of monasticism…
When he saw his father dead, he addressed him saying: “Where is your greatness, your strength, and your riches? You have left the world despite yourself. But I will leave the world by my own will before they take me out unwillingly…” Thus he despised life, sold all his possessions, gave them to the poor, and became a monk… And death was working with him for good, because he loved the Lord. There are many events, diseases, and tribulations that work together for good…
Perhaps an illness leads a person to repentance more than a hundred sermons?
Illness appears exhausting, but it is beneficial for those who love the Lord.
For this reason God allowed Paul to be given a thorn in the flesh. And when he pleaded, asking that it be removed, God kept it, for his good.
The thorn in the flesh was for the good of the Apostle Paul, so that he would not be exalted because of the abundance of revelations, and so that he would feel his weakness…
A man who ascended to the third heaven, saw things that cannot be uttered, performed signs and wonders, and labored more than all the apostles, was threatened that his heart might be lifted up; and the thorn was a protection for him… God gave it to him while loving him. And Paul was not displeased by it, because he understood the depth of God’s love…
The same situation happened to Jacob, the father of the patriarchs, when God struck him on the socket of his hip, and he limped on it all his days…
Jacob had wrestled with God and men and prevailed, received promises from God, saw a ladder between heaven and earth, inaugurated the first church in the world, succeeded in his life, and enjoyed blessings. Lest he too be exalted, God granted him an illness, for his good…
Like Paul and Jacob, the trial of Job was also for good…
The trial was very severe: God stripped him of his children, his wealth, his honor, his health, and his comfort… and it was for good…!
Some may wonder how a man like Job could be exposed to all this suffering, when God testified of him that he was perfect and upright, did good, and turned away from evil! Yet the trial was working for good.
The trial was for Job’s own benefit, for he felt his righteousness and became “righteous in his own eyes” (Job 32:1), so the trial led him to contrition. He said: “I repent in dust and ashes,” and “I put my hand over my mouth” (Job 42).
The trial was beneficial for his friends, as they repented and corrected their wrong spiritual concepts. It was beneficial for the world, as it presented a wonderful example of patience. It was a blow to shame Satan… And its other results were for Job’s good, as God restored to him double in everything…
Those who think that trials are not for good do not love God, but rather doubt His love and wisdom.
As for us, to whom the Scripture said: “Rejoice in the Lord always,” we who live in continual joy and have peace with God, we fully realize that all things work together for good.
And we say to Him: All Your works, O Lord, You have made them in wisdom…
Herod wanted to kill the Lord Christ, so He fled to Egypt.
Herod’s attempt to kill Christ was good for us in Egypt…
Egypt was sanctified by His coming, many miracles were performed in it, and it became an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt. The Virgin later came to visit the places where she had lived years before…
The trials that David the Prophet faced from King Saul were for his good. They gave him firmness of character and experience, and he became a man of prayer. He gave us Psalms full of depth, emotions, and spiritual experiences.
David did not benefit only from his tribulations, but even from his fall. God transformed this fall into good, granting David contrition and repentance, and he became a man of tears, who soaked his bed with his tears…
God allows us to fall sometimes so that we may not be proud of our strength and deify ourselves!! And also so that we may have compassion on those who fall.
He who falls and loves the Lord and repents feels the weakness of human nature and the strength of the enemy, so he does not judge those who fall, but remembers the saying of the Apostle: “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also” (Heb 13:3).
Many others also fell, and when they awoke, they felt—as a reaction to their fall—that they needed to compensate for the years that the locust had eaten, so they completed the rest of their lives with intense spiritual zeal that strongly propelled them forward… Examples of this are Mary of Egypt, who was transformed from a sinner into an ascetic, and Augustine, who became a sweet fountain of contemplations…
Tribulations are beneficial and for good. Even if they do not give us good on earth, they give us crowns in heaven…
There are things that seem exhausting, yet they work for good, such as rebuke and discipline.
The sinner of Corinth, whom the Apostle Paul commanded to be delivered to Satan, his punishment was for benefit, “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”
Poverty seems exhausting, yet it has often formed self-made people.
How many spiritual benefits we gain from tribulations that work together for good to those who love the Lord.
Tribulations are a school of prayer, a school of humility, and they help one draw near to God; through them a person comes to know himself. They are the mother of vows, and a school of asceticism and self-denial for those who love the Lord.
Those who love the Lord, all things work with them for good. But those who do not love Him, tribulations may lead them to grumbling, despair, and blasphemy, because they have no trust in God, His love, or His wisdom.
Live, therefore, in cheerfulness and joy, and know that you are under the care of God who loves you more than you love yourselves, and who harnesses all things for your good and benefit.
There is nothing that does not work for your good. Take nature, for example…
God created all nature to serve you, for your good: the sun, the moon, the stars, the seas, the rivers, the atmosphere, plants, and animals… For this reason God created man after creating all nature, to serve him…
Who is like you in greatness? Nature serves him, and even the angels serve him. “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb 1:14).
Elijah the Prophet is sent an angel by the Lord to feed him with cakes; Hagar and her son are met by an angel to give them water; Peter is met by an angel to bring him out of prison and lead him to the house; an angel saves Lot from Sodom; and an angel shuts the mouths of the lions so that they do not harm Daniel. “The Angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.”
Who is like you, whom the angels serve? Even if you fall: “They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
The women were also served by angels, for an angel came and rolled away the stone so that they might see the tomb.
O marvelous human being, not only nature and angels are at your service, working with you for good, but also prophets, shepherds, priests, and chief priests…
What shall I say? Even the Lord Christ Himself said of Himself that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…
The people of the world are those who are wearied by psychological illnesses, thinking about troubles. But the children of God rejoice, because all things work with them for good. Blessed is the Lord who made all creatures in their service.
The children of God are a company of the happy, whose motto is “goodwill toward men.”
The Gospel itself is glad tidings, and the angels sing to us and say: “I bring you good tidings of great joy,” joy for those who love the Lord.
Everything in life brings them joy, and they await the future “rejoicing in hope.” Even the painful past works together for good, for a bright future.
¹ An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Seventh Year (Issue Nine), 27-2-1976.
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