The Apostle Paul’s View of the Greater Good

So, what does Paul do when God allows him to be benched through his arrest? And then on top of everything else, he hears that people are preaching Christ just to tick him off. He doesn’t lose it. He doesn’t toss his cookies. He doesn’t blow a gasket.

I’ll tell you what Paul does. He’s OK with it because he knows that God is using him for the greater good. For the good news of Jesus to be spread all over the place. In the jail. Throughout the guards. In Rome. In Philippi. All around the world.

I don’t think Paul praised God for being in jail, and everything that went along with it. But Paul was willing to accept his place and part in the life that God had given him. He knew that God was in control, even through the tough times.

We’ve been walking with another couple where the husband’s been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They’ve been through a mountain of scheduling, office visits, blood tests, scans, procedures, insurance forms. He just finished up six months of chemo to hopefully shrink the tumors. In front of them is waiting to see if the chemo’s done its job, allowing for surgery to remove the cancer.

Through it all, they’ve remained not just calm, but positive. They have a settled confidence that God is in control. No matter what the diagnosis, no matter the biopsy results, they know deep down in the bottom of their soul that their good God is in control. They trust God to use even these difficult circumstances to glorify himself and to bring many to himself.

I don’t know what you’re facing. I have no clue about your past or present. None of us have insight into the future either. But there is a way to walk forward with peace and confidence. And that only comes when we walk with God, with an eye to the greater good.

There’s an old hymn that says it so much better than I ever could. The words may not be modern, but their truth is timeless.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,

sometimes where Eden’s flowers bloom,

by waters calm, o’er troubled sea,

still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine,

nor ever murmur nor repine;

content, whatever lot I see,

since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,

when, by thy grace, the victory’s won,

e’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,

since God through Jordan leadeth me.

Yes, God wants to lead you and me. But leading requires following. God’s not in the business of ripping control of our life out of our hands. He wants us to voluntarily hand it over to him.

I didn’t say that it was easy. Or that it was the logical thing to do. But it’s the only way to live at peace. No matter what this life dishes up to us, we can live with peace, knowing that our loving heavenly Father is taking care of us. Now, that’s really choosing the greater good.

Noodling Questions

• Could you accept injustice and imprisonment like Paul? Why or why not?

• How do we help God’s settled confidence in the circumstances of life?

• What makes following God hard? Easy?