file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db941003.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                    Monday,  October  3, 1994
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READ: Romans 8:28-39

                     "HIS GOOD PURPOSE"

            All things work together for good
                  to those who love God.

                      - Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 - how easily and how often this Bible  reference
rolls  off  our  tongues!  But perhaps we need to grasp more
fully what this verse is realky saying.

Randy Alcorn, in a book he has  co-authored  with  his  wife
Nanci,  offers  some insights on Romans 8:28.  He quotes the
New American Standard Bible translation of this verse:  "God
causes  all things to work together for good."  Randy points
out that it doesn't say each individual thing is  good,  but
that God works them together for good.

Recalling his boyhood days, Randy tells how he often watched
his  mother  bake  cakes.   One day when she had all the in-
gredients set out - flour, sugar, baking  powder,  raw  egg,
vanilla  -  he  sneaked a taste of each one.  Except for the
sugar, they all tasted horrible.  Then  his  mother  stirred
them  together  and  put the batter in the oven.  "It didn't
make sense to me," he recalls, "that the combination of  in-
dividually  distasteful  things  produced  such a tasty pro-
duct."

Randy concludes that God likewise "takes all the undesirable
stresses  in our lives, mixes them together, puts them under
the heat of crisis, and produces a perfect result."

Let's look beyond our immediate circumstances  and  remember
that God has an ultimate good purpose.

Author:  Joanie E. Yoder

 God has a purpose in our heartaches,
 The Savior always knows what's best;
 We learn so many precious lessons
 In every sorrow, trial, and test.

             - Jarvis

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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When  things  look bad,
   don't forget:  God is good.

The Bible in One Year:  Ezra 1-4

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