Joni and Friends Daily Devotional 11 June 2022 || Saturday Message
Read Joni and Friends Daily Devotional 11 June 2022 2022
Please support 5dailydevotional.com so we can continue publishing impactful and uplifting content daily. GIVE HERE
Topic: What Are the “All Things”?
Scripture: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. Romans 8:28
Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 11 June 2022 Message
You’ve seen it inscribed on little magnets on refrigerator doors. It shows up now and then on key rings. And I’ve even noticed it hand-embroidered on a Teddy bear. You’ve probably memorized it in a couple of different translations…and maybe had it quoted to you on occasions when you didn’t want to hear it.
Could it be that we take Romans 8:28 for granted because it’s so familiar?
I happened to be looking at the verse the other day when a question I’d never considered popped into my mind. I found myself wondering, What did the apostle Paul have in mind when he wrote ALL things work together for good? What did he mean by “all”? What things could he have been thinking about?
As I read on from that passage, I came across some surprising answers to those queries. Toward the end of the chapter, Paul begins to define what kind of “things” he’s talking about.
To put it in a nutshell, the list isn’t very pretty. It’s not the kind of stuff you’d embroider on a Teddy bear’s tummy.
He starts with the word “trouble,” and moves on from there to “hardship.” After these, he pencils in “persecution,” “famine,” “nakedness,” “danger,” and “the sword.”
Quite a list. And these are the things he believed God fit together for good in his life! He endured, confident that no amount of trouble or hardship—in whatever form—could separate him from the love of God.
Somehow, I can’t picture Paul looking at the words of Romans 8:28 with a “ho-hum-I’ve-heard-it-all-before” attitude. I can’t conceive of him being casual or nonchalant about such wonderful truth. I get the distinct impression that items like nakedness, danger, and the sword kept him on his toes, kept him close to God.
What are the “all things” in your life today? What list could you come up with? No, thank God, “famine” might not lead your list. I’m guessing that “nakedness” or “the sword” might not crop up, either. Your list might not even include persecution.
Even so, you still have a list. And it’s as heartfelt to you as Paul’s was to him. Can you thank God for working all the circumstances and events of your life together for good? Can you grasp the fact that today’s list of troubles can never, never separate you from the love of God? Nor tomorrow’s or tomorrow’s?
Don’t let Romans 8:28 become like an old, worn pair of slippers. Don’t shuffle through life with it. Don’t let the truth of God’s sovereign dealings in the lives of His children become some detached, abstract fact of life. Every time you encounter a new setback, struggle, or obstacle in your life, Romans 8:28 can bloom with new meaning, new encouragement, new hope.
It’s as new as tomorrow’s sunrise, and as fresh as your next hardship.
Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 11 June 2022 || Wayside Interlude
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word….
It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.
Psalm 119:67, 71
It is understandably easy to “pick and choose” which elements in our lives we’ll give thanks for. It’s as though the adverse, trying circumstances that enter our lives somehow slipped past God’s filter simply to plague us. But the Bible tells a different story. Think through the difficulties you’ve faced in the past week. How can you offer God praise today—and brag on his name a little to others—for the very things that distressed you or put you in a bind?
Thanks for reading Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 11 June 2022
