A Happy Ending

And they lived happily ever after. 

Perhaps your grandchildren curl up on your lap from time to time, and you read fairytales together. Princes and princesses always live happily ever after. Or maybe you recall just how cut-and-dried things seemed when you were younger: everything always worked out well. Then came Junior High literature. All of these open-ended narratives and tragedies. I remember disliking my literature classes immensely; pathos just didn't work for me. I'm no psychologist, but knowing how important security is to small children, I assume that's why they need things to end so happily in the stories we share with them. As we grow, however, we need the literary experience of things not quite turning out as we would like. It's almost as though when real-life disappointments come, we've been prepared through the characters we've come to meet in books. Once in a while, though, everyone can use a happy ending -- whether it's on a page or in our lives. 

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." All things, for good. What a wonderful promise! Well, it is, but the caveat is, it's not for everyone. I've heard lots of people say, "Everything always works out, right?" or "All things work together for good, right?" but the verse in its entirety is "to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Not for everyone; not for those who do not meet the criteria, and it's important we speak the truth in love.

But, for those who love God, for those called by Him unto salvation? "All things work together for good." Now, that doesn't mean terrible things stop happening just because your life has been committed to the Lord. In fact, sometimes it seems more the opposite. But things given to God-- money, time, talent, sickness, poverty, pain --can all be used for His glory and our good. Even cancer? Yep. Unemployment? Yep. Divorce? Yep. Injustice and tyranny? If you are a child of God, He can work out any persecution, discrimination, false accusation, or even wrongful imprisonment for your good and His glory. There's no need to panic. And when the troubles come those close to Him can hear Him whisper, "This is going to happen, and I need you to go through this, but I'm not leaving -- not for a second. I will be with you as you go and you will live happily ever after, forever." That's not a fairytale.