You live in a world that, because of sin, is not as it one day will be. It’s messed up. Nothing is quite right. Life is an endless stream of circumstances that range from annoying to heartbreaking.
I know. I live in this world with you, in you, as you. The question is this: how are you going to choose to see these circumstances—as the world does, or as I do? Because we are one, you can see as I do. In fact, you have the very mind of Christ.
I don’t just see the appearance of things. What I see is reality. And the reality is this: I am in everything. I want you to see me in everything.
I am in everything for your good, and the good of others. The beautiful sunset? I am in that. The cute kids selling lemonade on the corner? I am in that. The flat tire you discovered this morning when you walked out of the house? I am in that. The bad grades your child has in math? I am in that. The difficult news you just got from the doctor? I am in that.
I am in everything. I am not standing idly by, hoping for the best. I am in it for good. Does that mean I caused it? I’m not talking about cause, and I don’t want you to be focused on cause. It’s a complete distraction. I want you to understand that you have a God who is bigger than the decisions of people, bigger than the works of the devil, bigger than any heartbreak of life, and that I am not only in it for good, I mean it for good. Yes, if you are in a circumstance, I mean that circumstance for good. The universe is completely safe for you. Nothing comes to you—nothing comes to me in you—unless it passes through my loving hands.
This is where you see with the eyes of faith. Because every circumstances doesn’t appear good. Some of them appear horrible. Some of them appear downright evil. How do you think the cross looked to me? But do you remember what I told my disciples it was? “This is my Father’s cup for me,” I told them. It wasn’t the religious leaders’ cup for me. It wasn’t the Romans’ cup for me. It wasn’t the devil’s cup for me. It was my Father’s cup. And out of that evil he brought the redemption of the world.
I am doing that through you. I am taking you into difficult circumstances. You don’t like them. You wouldn’t choose them. That’s perfectly normal. No one likes difficulty. But you choose to see me in it for good. You say, “Lord, despite appearances, you mean this for good.”
And as you do, you see my Spirit at work, working it for good. It may not be right away. It may even be something that you never physically see. But you see it now by faith, and you will see it in eternity. You choose to stop focusing on the negative, and instead see my perfection in the situation.
Sometimes the circumstances are for teaching you. How are you going to learn that I, living in you, through you, am your sufficiency, unless a circumstance arises that threatens insufficiency? You see your lack, so you are driven to me. You learn to relax into the one who, in you, is completely sufficient. You learn peace and rest, even in the midst of chaos.
Or how are you going to learn that I am your deliverer, unless you are in a situation that causes you to turn to me, that I may deliver you?
Often the circumstances have little to do with my program in you at all; they have to do with my program through you. You are taken through a hardship. You are taken through a deep heartache. Why, you wonder, doesn’t God take this away?
But you and I are one. And two things are true. First, I am your fulfillment, even in the midst of hardship and heartache. You learn that—you experience that—as you walk through in faith. Second, your trials make you a vessel prepared to show my love to those in the world going through the same trials. How are you going to really relate to a person unless you have walked in their shoes? How are you going to show them my love, and my sufficiency, unless you’ve experienced my sufficiency in ways that apply to their situation?
This is where you and I are one in laying down our lives for others. It’s where you share in my sufferings for a broken world. You say, “Lord, I don’t see the point of this trial. It feels terrible. But you mean it for good, and you are in it for someone’s good. I receive that and trust you as my sufficiency.” Then you see me living my life through you, manifesting my life to those who need me.
You could call this kind of seeing the single eye. It’s not seeing the apparent evil or bad as the ultimate reality. It’s only seeing me in everything.
It’s only seeing me in yourself. I am the one living through you. It’s only seeing me in others. I am the one living through them, or at work in them, or using them as my instruments to bring about my good purposes. It’s only seeing me in your circumstance. By faith you know that I mean it for good, and I am in it for good.
Don’t see “God and.” See “God only”—in yourself, in others, in your circumstances. I am all you see. And seeing by faith, you are ready to be my vessel for good in that very situation. My life comes pouring out through you as you take your faith stand. Now you and I are being poured out for the world together. And as we are, you are being filled with my rivers of living water.
I’ve said all of this before:
But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. (Romans 11:36)
[God] works all things after the counsel of His will. (Ephesians 1:11)
So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11)
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:28-29)
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” — Joseph (Genesis 50:20)
For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
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