He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

— Deuteronomy 32:4

28 And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

29 For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…

— Romans 8:28-29

Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

— Matthew 16:24

For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.

— Romans 6:5

10 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,

11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

— Philippians 3:10-11

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, salvation and joy from Jesus Christ to you.

God can and will put a stop to evil in His perfect time. Until then, God accomplishes His good purposes, despite and even through the evil in this world. God is always at work doing more than we realize. Everything good comes from God. He does not allow His children to suffer needlessly. We cannot know God’s specific purpose for each hurt. But we do know God uses every trial, offense, and pain to sanctify His children. Suffering allows us to apply what we read from the Bible to our struggles. Struggles remind us we are finite and not in control. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” God foreknew, predestined His people to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus.

God children are led to identify with Christ’s suffering and death. Paul expressed his desire— “I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.” While following Christ, we must deny ourselves, taking up our own cross to follow Him. We believers exercise to identify with Christ’s death by seeking Christ and His kingdom. This involves suffering and sacrifice—following in the steps of the One who suffered and was willingly sacrificed for us. Though our union with Jesus includes suffering, our identifying with Jesus also means that Jesus supplies us the power to persevere and to even recognize the privilege of suffering and joyful fellowship with Him. Amen!