In Good Times and in Bad - Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - November 26, 2015

In Good Times and in Bad

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. - (Romans 8:28)

We can give thanks, even when times are hard. It’s one thing to give thanks when things are going well. But we can also give thanks when things are not going well.

Of the many beautiful psalms David wrote, one of my favorites is Psalm 63: “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name” (verses 3–4).

We may think David wrote this psalm while he was kicking back on a beautiful sunny day. But that wasn’t the case. David actually wrote this psalm in exile, while he was running from his son Absalom, who was trying to take his throne. Not only that, but David was an elderly man by this time. He was in anguish and personal pain.

We can praise the Lord in good times, and we can praise the Lord in bad times. And by the way, I don’t think we will fully understand what is good or bad this side of heaven anyway. When we’re younger we think certain things are good and other things are bad. Success? Always good. Hardship? Always bad. That’s how we think.

But then, after we’ve lived for a while, we can look back and say, “Actually, success can be bad for some. And actually, hardship can be good for others.” We begin to look at things differently. Sometimes the things we thought were really good turn out to be bad. And the things that we thought were bad turn out to be really good.

The Lord can take all things, bad or good, and according to Romans 8:28, work them “together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.

Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.

SPECIAL OFFER

The Biggest Story

With beautiful, intriguing, and captivating illustrations, The Biggest Story children’s storybook weaves “the biggest story” of the Bible through all of the individual stories. What is “the biggest story”? It’s that God Himself planned from the very beginning to redeem and rescue His rebellious people.

The Biggest Story, by Kevin DeYoung will be sent to you for your donation to Harvest Ministries today.