Pieces of Steel

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Sounds great, doesn't it??? There are times in my struggles when I have looked at this passage of scripture and thought what good could God be working right now??? When your scans are bad, or the side effects are almost unbearable, what good could He have in mind? What good is God working when a friend's 15-year old daughter dies after a two year battle with Ewings Sarcoma? What could He be thinking when a 42-year old wife and mother of three young children dies within 5 months of her diagnosis of intestinal cancer? What is the meaning of hearing of a Jewish woman being healed of advanced lung cancer by Christ Jesus at a Christian
healing conference??? If this all seems whiny and resentful...well it is.

But not by me.....not any longer. Through all my struggles, I have learned many things and one of those things is to look at the whole scripture, not just parts, to find the real meaning of what the writer was trying to say. In Romans 8:28, you have to give as much weight to the second
part of the scripture as well as to the first part, which is the most often quoted.

The scripture doesn't say good things will happen to those who love God. No, rather it says
God will work to defend us, guard us, guide us and use us as we have been called to HIS PURPOSE. Stuff happens to people all the time, every day. Tragedy, sickness, death.....unfairness!!!! There is no selective process and no one is exempt from the possibility. So we have to, as His faithful, try to focus on His greater purpose.

I wish I could take credit for the "Pieces of Steel' analogy to this scripture, but I heard it on the radio during a long business trip on a day when I most needed to hear it. Of course, I was not surprised by God's perfect timing. It goes something like this:

There was a very popular preacher who was doing great things at a growing and spiritual church. He was so sure that he was doing exactly God's work and fulfilling God's purpose for him in his life. People were coming to church, coming to Christ, and coming together for the glory of God. And then his twenty-year old son committed suicide.

The preacher was devastated. He came to his friend (who was telling the story on the radio) and said, "through all my years of ministry I have used Romans 8:28 as a source a comfort and encouragement to people who have asked 'why did this thing happen to me?'. Now, I realize I cannot possibly make sense of or believe what this scripture says because my son has taken his own life. How am I supposed to go on?" (How many times have you every felt like that?)

The friend came up with this analogy: Imagine you have walked into a naval shipyard somewhere on the coast. There are a lot of construction materials laying around, people hard at work, but nothing really for you to see but piles of steel and metal and rivets and wires. You come upon a piece of steel lying on the ground. If you could pick up that piece of steel and throw it into the water, what would it do? Would it float or sink? Why sink, of course, because looking at the piece of steel all alone makes it just that...one heavy sinking piece of steel.

Now, two years later, you come back to the shipyard. All the pieces of steel are now gone. In their place, at a dock on the water is a big beautiful new battleship. Somewhere in that battleship is your piece of steel. That same piece of steel that was looked at as a single entity and subsequently sank is now floating along with many other pieces of steel. And not only is it floating but your piece of steel is part of a greatly planned and executed project set to defend
the greater good of a nation.

So when you are down, discouraged, devastated...lost... remember the piece of steel. As long as all you can focus on is the one piece of steel, you will sink. Romans 8:28 reminds us that our real hope is where that piece of steel fits into a greatly planned and executed project He has designed for "those who have been called according to His purpose." Your piece of steel, my piece of steel, will be fit into a magnificent and mighty place because we love Him.

Always, always have faith, for without it, we sink.