n all things God works for the good of those who love Him. Whatever the circumstances, we can be confident that God is working in the midst of them for our good. This does not mean that all things that happen are necessarily good, but even in the worst of situations God will work for our good. This includes the very situation you are in right now.
Paul then goes on to limit this promise to "those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose", and then starts talking about predestination. On hearing the word predestination we have a tendency to either switch off, or to start worrying about "have I been predestined", "am I included". This is not the way that Paul intended us to read it. He does not write about predestination so that people can have a nice (or not so nice) theological argument, nor to put doubt and fear into people. Rather he writes about it to encourage us.
What Paul is saying, is that God has called us. He didn't do this on a whim, but it is His eternal purpose, always was, and always will be. And He chose us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. So we can be sure that God will work in every circumstance to make us more like Jesus.
When we are in difficult circumstances our natural reaction is to cry to God to get us out of the circumstances. Often we would be better to ask "what changes are you making in me in the circumstances?" "How are you using these circumstances to make me more like your Son?". This not a matter of being passive, for it says in Philippians 2:12,13 that we are to work out our own salvation because God is at work in us. Whatever situation we find ourselves in we should ask ourselves how can I show love to someone, how can I serve someone, how can I do God's will in this situation.
Circumstances are temporary, but God's purpose is eternal and is not changed because the circumstances change. This applies both to His general purpose for our lives (eg loving God, loving others, doing good) and His specific purpose for our lives (eg a particular calling on your life).
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