Romans 8:28-30 - (28) "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. (29) For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified".
Before modernization and machines, the techniques of furniture craftsmen were simple but efficient.
For example, to bend pieces of wood for chairs, the wood was cut while still green. It was then bent around an object and tied together, often with grapevines, or placed in a crude mold.
There is a similar scenario of God’s exercise of sovereignty, particularly as it relates to affliction. The craftsmen did not haphazardly misshape the wood. They had a purpose, a finished product, in mind.
Likewise, God never exercises His sovereignty capriciously. He is never the author of evil, but always uses the vile and the virtuous for His ultimate design – to conform men and women to the image of Jesus Christ.
This is what He died for, to redeem us from sin’s curse – death – and work unceasingly in our souls to restore us to our original image – His image, stamped in the Garden and distorted by sin.
As you turn to God and cry out to Him in your affliction, the providence of God is mysteriously at work, accomplishing His intent. Absolutely nothing can thwart that purpose when your heart is bent toward Him. The pressures of life, severe as they may be, drive you only deeper into His divine mold.
