Monday, April 24, 2017

All Will Be Well

 

[Photo of a girl hugging her dad]


“Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me
and keep all my commands always, so that it might
go well with them and their children forever.”
—Deuteronomy 5:2

When everything seems to go wrong, when life gets really hard, when disappointment and pain accompany us every day, do we, as adults, just wish our father would come and soothe our worries by taking over and making things right? We long for these words, “Everything will be okay.”

When my younger sister learned she had a very aggressive cancer that might take her life, she said to her weeping grandchildren, “I’ll be okay. And, even if I’m not, everything will still be okay.” In other words, God will work everything out as we hope. Or, He will work out everything to go well, just as He has planned.

We read in Isaiah 3 about the judgment God was about to bring on Jerusalem and Judah. He warned them that supplies of food and water would dry up, the military, legal, and governmental supports would become destroyed. He warned about oppression and disaster. Yet, He tells His people this in verse ten:

“Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.”

Even when all seems hopeless, we can trust God to bring good out of any evil. In His goodness, He rewards our faith with joy and peace. Our Heavenly Father comes and assures us that He has everything under His control. And, because this is so, it will be well.

Let us allow this hymn text to encourage our faith today, no matter what our circumstances might be.

Through the love of God, our Savior,
All will be well;
Free and changeless is His favor,
All, all is well.
Precious is the blood that healed us,
Perfect is the grace that sealed us,
Strong the hand stretched out to shield us,
All must be well.

Though we pass through tribulation,
All will be well;
Ours is such a full salvation,
All, all is well.
Happy when in God confiding,
Fruitful if in Christ abiding,
Holy through the Spirit’s guiding,
All must be well.

We expect a bright tomorrow,
All will be well;
Faith can sing through days of sorrow,
All, all is well.
On our Father’s love relying,
Jesus ev’ry need supplying,
Or in living or in dying,
All must be well.1

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1 Peters, Mary. Through the Love of God, Our Savior. Public Domain.