“All things work together for good,” the text says. Yet, how do shut doors in my face, hunger pangs that won’t go away and fear of debilitating or deadly disease help me? The answer is in Hebrews 12:9-11.
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Did you get it? God uses troublesome times as discipline to train us (Romans 5:1-5) so that we might be partakers of His holiness. That’s Heaven, people! God is putting us through our paces to get us ready for glory! Now, God wants us to enjoy life here, for sure (1 Timothy 4:8; 6:17), but ultimately, the good He has in mind for us is Heaven itself. God is determined that we do not miss it (2 Peter 3:9). He will do for us and to us whatever it takes for us to learn how to get there, if we will cooperate (Ephesians 1:11-12). This helps us see things differently, doesn’t it (James 1:2-4)?
