3. How the Best Things Work for Good
The best things work for good to the godly. There are eight of these.
1. God’s Attributes
God’s attributes work for good, particularly these three.
1. God’s Power
God’s power works for good. It is a glorious power (Col 1:11), and it is committed to the good of the elect. From this strength comes sweetness. God’s power works for good in four ways: (1) supporting us in misery, (2) supplying our needs, (3) subduing our corruptions, and (4) conquering our enemies.
(1) Supporting us in misery. “Underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut 33:27). What sustained Daniel in the lions’ den, Jonah in the whale’s belly, and the three children in the furnace? Only the power of God. Is it not remarkable to see a bruised reed grow and flourish? How can a weak Christian not only endure affliction but rejoice in it? The arms of the Almighty sustain him. “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).
(2) Supplying our needs. God creates comforts when the means of obtaining them fail. He who brought food to the prophet Elijah through ravens acting contrary to their nature will bring sustenance to his people. God can preserve the “oil in the cruse” (1 Kgs 17:14). The Lord made the sun on Ahaz’s dial go ten degrees backward. In the same way, when our outward comforts are declining and the sun is almost setting, God often brings renewal and turns the sun back many degrees.
(3) Subduing our corruptions. “He will subdue our iniquities” (Mic 7:19). Is your sin strong? God is powerful. He will break the head of this leviathan. Is your heart hard? God will dissolve that stone in Christ’s blood. “The Almighty maketh my heart soft” (Job 23:16). When we say with Jehosaphat, “we have no might against this great army,” the Lord goes into battle with us and helps us fight. He strikes off the heads of those Goliath-like lusts that are too strong for us.
(4) Conquering our enemies. He disgraces our adversaries’ pride and breaks their confidence. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron” (Ps 2:9). There is rage in the enemy and malice in the devil, but there is power in God. How easily he can rout all the forces of the wicked! “It is nothing for the Lord to help” (2 Chr 14:11). God’s power is on his church’s side. “Happy art thou O Israel, O people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy excellency” (Deut 33:29).
2. God’s Wisdom
God’s wisdom works for good. His wisdom is our oracle, instructing us. He is both the “mighty God” and the “counsellor” (Isa 9:6). We are often in the dark. In complicated and uncertain matters, we do not know which way to go. Here God brings light: “I will guide thee with mine eye” (Ps 32:8). Here eye stands for God’s wisdom.
How can the saints see farther than the most perceptive politicians? They foresee an evil and hide themselves. They recognize Satan’s deceptive arguments. God’s wisdom is the pillar of fire that goes before them and guides them.
3. God’s Goodness
God’s goodness works for good in two ways.
(1) It makes us good. “The goodness of God leadeth to repentance” (Rom 2:4). God’s goodness is a spiritual sunbeam that melts the heart into tears. “Oh,” the soul says, “has God been so good to me? Has he spared me from hell for so long? Shall I grieve his Spirit any longer? Shall I sin against goodness?”
(2) It brings us every blessing. The favors we receive are silver streams flowing from the fountains of God’s goodness. This divine attribute brings two kinds of blessings: (1) common blessings and (2) crowning blessings.
Everyone shares in common blessings, the bad as well as the good. This sweet dew falls on the thistle as well as the rose. Only the godly share in crowning blessings: “Who crowneth us with loving kindness” (Ps 103:4). Thus God’s blessed attributes work for good to the saints.
2. God’s Promises
God’s promises work for good. They are a written pledge signed by God. Is it not good to have such a guarantee? The promises are the breasts of the gospel. Is the breast not for the infant’s good? They are called “precious promises” (2 Pet 1:4). They are like a reviving cordial to a soul ready to faint. Cardan says that every precious stone has some hidden virtue. The promises are full of virtue, especially in four situations.
1. Under the Guilt of Sin
Are we burdened with the guilt of sin? There is a promise: “the Lord merciful, gracious,” etc. (Exod 34:6). Here God, as it were, puts on his glorious embroidery and holds out the golden scepter to encourage poor, trembling sinners to come to him.
“The Lord merciful.” God is more willing to pardon than to punish. Mercy increases in him more than sin increases in us. Mercy is his nature. The bee naturally gives honey; it stings only when provoked.
“But,” says the guilty sinner, “I cannot deserve mercy.” Yet he is gracious. He shows mercy because he delights in it, not because we deserve it.
“But what does that mean for me? Perhaps my name is not in the pardon.” “He keeps mercy for thousands.” The treasury of mercy is not exhausted. God has treasures in reserve. Why should you not come and receive a child’s share? This promise is like a bezoar stone, an antidote.
2. Under the Defilement of Sin
Are we defiled by sin? There is a promise working for good: “I will heal their back-slidings” (Hos 14:4). God will bestow grace as well as mercy. He has also promised to send his Spirit (Isa 44:3). Because of his sanctifying nature, Scripture sometimes compares the Spirit to water, which cleanses a vessel; sometimes to the Word, which serves as a winnowing fan and purifies the air; and sometimes to fire, which refines metals. In this way, God’s Spirit will cleanse and consecrate the soul, making it share in the divine nature.
3. In Great Danger
Are we in great danger? There is a promise working for our good: “I will be with him in trouble” (Ps 91:15). God does not ordinarily bring his people into troubles and leave them there. He will stand beside them and support their heads and hearts when they are fainting.
There is another promise: “He is their strength in the time of trouble” (Ps 37:39). “Oh,” says the soul, “I shall faint in the day of trial.” But God will be the strength of our hearts. He will join his forces with ours. Either he will make his hand lighter or our faith stronger.
4. In Fear of Material Need
Do we fear material need? There is a promise: “They that fear the Lord, shall not want any good thing” (Ps 34:10). If something is good for us, we shall have it. If it is not good for us, then not having it is good. “I will bless thy bread and thy water” (Exod 23:25). This blessing falls like honeydew on a leaf. It sweetens the little we possess. Let me go without the venison, so long as I have the blessing.
“But I fear I shall not be able to make a living.” Consider this Scripture: “I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Ps 37:25). How should we understand this?
(1) David speaks from his own observation. He had never witnessed such an eclipse. He had never seen a godly person brought so low that he did not have a piece of bread to put in his mouth.
(2) David had never seen both the righteous and their offspring in want. Although the Lord might test godly parents with need for a time, he would not leave their offspring in need as well. The offspring of the godly will be provided for.
(3) David had never seen the righteous both begging for bread and forsaken. Although a righteous person might be reduced to severe hardship, he is not forsaken. He remains an heir of heaven, and God loves him.
Thus, in all these situations, the promises work for good.
Question: How do the promises work for good?
Answer: In two ways.
(1) They feed faith. Whatever strengthens faith works for good. The promises are faith’s breast milk. Faith draws nourishment from them as a child nurses at the breast. “Jacob feared exceedingly” (Gen 32:7). His spirits were ready to faint. Then he turned to the promise: “Lord thou hast said thou wilt do me good” (Gen 32:12). This promise was his food. By drawing nourishment from it, he gained so much strength that he could wrestle with the Lord all night in prayer. He would not let him go until he had blessed him.
(2) They are springs of joy. There is more in the promises to comfort us than in the world to trouble us. Ursin was comforted by this promise: “No man shall pluck them out of my Father’s hands” (John 10:29). The promises are cordials in a fainting fit. “Unless thy word had been my delight, I had perished in my affliction” (Ps 119:92). The promises are like cork floats on a net, keeping the heart from sinking in the deep waters of distress.
3. God’s Mercies
God’s mercies work for good to the godly.
1. Temporal Mercies
Temporal mercies include health and prosperity. Mercy has its most gracious effect on a sincere and generous spirit.
(1) God’s mercies humble us. “Then went King David, and sat before the Lord, and said, who am I, O Lord God, and what is my father’s house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?” (2 Sam 7:18). “Lord, how have I received such honor, that I should be king? How is it that I, who followed the sheep, should go in and out before your people?”
A heart shaped by grace speaks in the same way: “Lord, what am I, that I should fare better than others? Why should I drink the fruit of the vine when others drink not only a cup of wormwood but a cup of blood? What am I, that I should have mercies denied to others who are better than I? Lord, how is it that, despite all my unworthiness, a fresh tide of mercy comes every day?” God’s mercies make a sinner proud, but a saint humble.
(2) God’s mercies melt the soul into love for him. His judgments make us fear him; his mercies make us love him. How deeply kindness moved Saul! David had him at his mercy. He could have cut off not only the corner of Saul’s robe but his head. Yet he spared his life, and this kindness melted Saul’s heart. “Is this thy voice, my son David? and Saul lift up his voice and wept” (1 Sam 24:16). God’s mercy has this melting influence. It makes the eyes overflow with tears of love.
(3) God’s mercies make the heart fruitful. When you invest more in a field, it yields a better crop. A soul shaped by grace honors the Lord with its possessions. It does not use its mercies as Israel used their jewels and earrings, to make a golden calf. Instead, it uses them as Solomon used the money given to the treasury, to build a temple for the Lord. The golden showers of mercy make the heart fertile.
(4) God’s mercies make the heart thankful. “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I will take the cup of salvation” (Ps 116:12-13). David alludes to the people of Israel, who took a cup in their hands at their peace offerings and thanked God for deliverances.
Every mercy is a gift of free grace, and this enlarges the soul with gratitude. A good Christian is not a grave in which to bury God’s mercies, but a temple in which to sing his praise. If every kind of bird, as Ambrose says, chirps its thankfulness to its Maker, how much more will a sincere Christian whose life is enriched and perfumed with mercy!
(5) God’s mercies stir us to action. As they are magnets drawing us to love, they are whetstones sharpening our obedience. “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps 116:9). Someone who looks back over his blessings sees himself as bound to serve God. From the sweetness of mercy, he reasons that he should be swift in duty. He spends and is spent for Christ. He dedicates himself to God. Among the Romans, when someone redeemed another person, the redeemed person was afterward required to serve him. A soul surrounded by mercy serves God with active zeal.
(6) God’s mercies make us compassionate toward others. A Christian brings deliverance from temporal distress. He feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and visits widows and orphans in their distress. The backs and bellies of the poor are the furrows where he sows the golden seeds of his charity. “A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth” (Ps 112:5). Charity flows freely from him, like myrrh from a tree. Thus God’s mercies work for good to the godly. They are wings lifting them to heaven.
2. Spiritual Mercies
Spiritual mercies work for good, including the blessed ordinances.
(1) The preached Word works for good. It is a life-giving fragrance. It transforms the soul and shapes the heart into Christ’s likeness. It produces assurance: “our Gospel came to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and much assurance” (1 Thess 1:5). It is the chariot of salvation.
(2) Prayer works for good. Prayer is the bellows of the affections. It fans holy desires and the soul’s fervor into flame. Prayer has power with God: “Command ye me” (Isa 45:11). It is a key that unlocks the treasury of God’s compassion. Prayer keeps the heart open to God and closed to sin. It cools the excessive heat and swelling of lust. Luther advised a friend to turn to prayer as soon as he noticed a temptation beginning to arise.
Prayer is the Christian’s gun, fired against his enemies. It is the Pancreston, the soul’s universal remedy and sovereign medicine. Prayer sanctifies every mercy (1 Tim 4:5). It dispels sorrow. By pouring out grief, it eases the heart. When Hannah had prayed, “she went away and was no more sad” (1 Sam 1:18). If prayer has these remarkable effects, then it works for good.
(3) The Lord’s Supper works for good. It is an emblem of the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9) and a pledge of the communion we shall have with Christ in glory. It is a feast of rich things. It gives us bread from heaven that not only preserves life but prevents death.
It has glorious effects in the hearts of the godly. It awakens their affections, strengthens their graces, puts their corruptions to death, revives their hopes, and increases their joy. Luther says, “it is as great a work to comfort a dejected soul, as to raise the dead to life.” Yet this can happen, and sometimes does happen, to the souls of the godly in the blessed Supper.
The sacrament has a distinctive excellence beyond the preached Word. In the Word there is the breath of God; in the sacrament, the blood of God. In the Word we hear his voice; in the sacrament we receive his kiss. The Word comes from God’s mouth; the sacrament from his sides.
4. The Graces of the Spirit
The graces of the Spirit work for good. Grace is to the soul what light is to the eye and health is to the body. Grace does for the soul what a virtuous wife does for her husband: “She will do him good all the days of her life” (Prov 31:12).
How incomparably useful these graces are! Faith and fear go hand in hand. Faith keeps the heart cheerful; fear keeps it serious. Faith keeps the heart from sinking into despair; fear keeps it from floating in presumption. All the graces display their beauty. Hope is the “helmet” (1 Thess 5:8); meekness is the “ornament” (1 Pet 3:4); love is the “bond of perfectness” (Col 3:14).
The saints’ graces are weapons to defend them, wings to lift them, jewels to enrich them, spices to perfume them, stars to adorn them, and cordials to refresh them. Does all this not work for good? These graces are our evidence of a title to heaven. Is it not good to have that evidence at the hour of death?
5. God’s Creatures
God’s creatures work for good to the godly.
1. Inanimate Creatures
“The stars in their course fought against Sisera” (Judg 5:20). The stars, like God’s army, gathered into a battalion. By their influences they raised terrible storms and, as it were, conspired to destroy Sisera and his army.
2. Animate Creatures
The angels, those noble citizens and princes of heaven, work for the saints’ good. The good angels are ready to perform every service of love for God’s people. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb 1:14).
Some of the church fathers believe that every believer has a guardian angel. This needs no heated debate. It is enough to know that the whole hierarchy of angels is employed for the saints’ good. The good angels serve the saints in three settings.
(1) In life. An angel comforted the virgin Mary (Luke 1:28). An angel stopped the lions’ mouths so they could not hurt Daniel (Dan 6:22). A Christian has an invisible guard around him, the protection and guardianship of angels. “He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways” (Ps 91:11). The angels belong to the saints’ bodyguard, even the chief angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits?” The highest angels care for the lowest saints.
(2) At death. Angels surround the saints’ sickbeds to comfort them. God comforts through his angels as well as through his Spirit. An angel refreshed Christ in his agony (Luke 22:43). Believers are refreshed in the same way in the agony of death. When the saints breathe their last, a convoy of angels carries their souls to heaven (Luke 16:22).
(3) At the day of judgment. The angels will serve the saints in two ways.
First, they will open the saints’ graves, dig the earth away from their bodies, and lead them into Christ’s presence. There the saints will be made like his glorious body. “He shall send his angels, and they shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other” (Matt 24:31).
Second, the angels will rid the godly of all their enemies. Here the saints are plagued by enemies: “They are mine adversaries, because I follow the thing that is good” (Ps 38:20). Soon the angels will give God’s people an order of release and free them from all their enemies. “The tares are the children of the wicked one, the harvest is the end of the world, the reapers are the angels; as therefore the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world, the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things which offend, and them which do iniquity, and cast them into a furnace of fire,” etc. (Matt 13:38).
At the day of judgment, God’s angels will take the wicked, who are the tares, bundle them up, and throw them into hell’s furnace. Then enemies will no longer trouble the godly. Thus the good angels work for good.
See here the honor and dignity of a believer. He has God’s name written on him (Rev 3:12), the Holy Ghost dwelling in him (2 Tim 1:14), and a guard of angels attending him.
6. The Communion of Saints
The communion of saints works for good. “We are helpers of our joy” (2 Cor 1:24). One Christian’s conversation with another helps strengthen him, just as the stones in an arch strengthen one another. By sharing his experience, one Christian warms and invigorates another. “Let us provoke one another to love, and good works” (Heb 10:24).
How grace flourishes through holy conversation! Through good conversation, a Christian pours oil on another’s lamp and makes his faith burn brighter.
7. Christ’s Intercession
Christ’s intercession works for good. Christ is in heaven like Aaron, with the golden plate on his forehead and his precious incense. He prays for all believers, just as he prayed for the apostles. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for all them that shall believe in me” (John 17:20). When a Christian is weak and can hardly pray for himself, Jesus Christ is praying for him. He prays for three things.
(1) That the saints may be kept from sin. “I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15). We live in the world as in a plague hospital. Christ prays that his saints will not be infected with the contagious evil of the times.
(2) That his people may advance in holiness. “Sanctify them” (John 17:17). Let them receive constant supplies of the Spirit and be anointed with fresh oil.
(3) That they may be glorified. “Father, I will that those which thou hast given me, be with me where I am” (John 17:24). Christ is not content until the saints are in his arms. The prayer he offered on earth is the model and pattern of his prayer in heaven. What a comfort this is! While Satan is tempting, Christ is praying. This works for good.
Christ’s prayer takes away the sins in our prayers. Ambrose describes a child who wants to present his father with a bouquet. He goes into the garden and gathers flowers and weeds together. Then he comes to his mother, who picks out the weeds and ties the flowers together. In this form, the bouquet is presented to the father.
In the same way, after we have offered our prayers, Christ comes and picks out the weeds, the sin in our prayer. He presents only flowers to his Father, a sweet-smelling fragrance.
8. The Saints’ United Prayers
The combined store of the saints’ prayers works for good to the godly. The saints pray for all the members of Christ’s mystical body, and their prayers accomplish much.
(1) Recovery from sickness. “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up” (Jas 5:15).
(2) Victory over enemies. “Lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left” (Isa 37:4). “Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred and fourscore and five thousand” (Isa 37:36).
(3) Deliverance from prison. “Prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And behold the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, and his chains fell off” (Acts 12:5-7). The angel brought Peter out of prison, but prayer brought the angel.
(4) Forgiveness of sin. “My servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept” (Job 42:8).
Thus the saints’ prayers work for good to Christ’s mystical body. This is no small privilege for a child of God: the business of prayer is constantly being carried on for him. When he enters any town or community, he may say, “There are prayers for me here. Indeed, all over the world there is a store of prayer being offered for me. When I am in no condition to pray and feel out of tune, others who are lively and eager are praying for me.” Thus the best things work for good to God’s people.
