All Things

In Amy Hempel’s story “The Man in Bogota,” a wealthy man is kidnapped. He has a heart condition, so his captors make him quit smoking and start exercising to keep him alive. When he’s released, his doctor says it was the best thing that ever happened to him.

The last line of the story asks: “He wondered how we know that what happens to us isn’t good.”

Of course, not everything that happens is good. But I have seen God bring good out of terrible situations—time and again.

I think about how Americans came together so beautifully in the immediate aftermath of 9/11/2001. I think about how during the initial stage of the Covid shutdown, many of us met our neighbors for the first time.  I think about all the wonderful charities that were founded after the sudden loss of a love-one. And, I think about the new appreciation for friends, family, and life that people often feel after a particularly bad illness. 

In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For we know that all things work together for good for those who love God…”

It’s not that God has promised that things will work out when or how we want. But I do trust that even out of heartbreak God can bring about beauty – even out of our confusing troubling situations, God can bring about good. 

Let us pray: Loving God, we don’t always understand suffering or loss. But we trust that you are good and that you are at work—even in the darkest places. Bring beauty from brokenness. Heal and restore. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.