God's purpose for his people is that we should become like Jesus. That's why the pain continues. That's why the struggle goes on. That's why you're at a loss to explain it. He is shaping your clay to look like Jesus.
Yes, we are clay in the Master's hands. But here's the surprising truth. God never throws away the excess material. even the clay that never makes it into the final product. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl describes the artistic hands of the potter.
who tirelessly fashions us into His image. Ever feel like God has given up on you? In our continuing study, you'll be reminded of his tireless effort on your behalf. Along the way, God works all things together for our ultimate good. Teaching from Romans chapter 8, Chuck called today's message Providence made practical.
The great truth in the scriptures is that God. knows everything. Theologians call this divine omniscience. omniscience. God is not discovering, God is not learning.
God is not watching and then adapting. His plan to fit What might Help make us comfortable. God's plan is set. His knowledge is thorough. Because both are true, we can rest.
Only when we rest in that plan.
Now God Fixes Everything. Everyone. He has never met his match. That is why God can write what He does in the 28th verse of Romans 8, because He knows all. able to fix all In his time and according to his plan, we can count on the truth of this verse, even though, don't miss this, even though we can never find it.
Fully Understand it. Romans chapter 8 verse 25 will tell you part of the reason we wrestle like we do with the plan of God. We do not see. I have those words underscored in my Bible. Romans 8, 25, we hope for what we do not see.
Because we do not see, we tend to turn to Him waiting and praying.
However, there are times we can't even pray.
Next verse. In the same way, the Spirit helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should. That's the next thing to underline. Not only do we not see, we do not know. And so, what do we do?
We groan. That's what the verse states. The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. We see the immediate God focuses on the ultimate. We also forget that our knowledge is limited and God's is unlimited.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Start with the first two words. We know. Right beside those words, put these words: this promise is to be claimed, not ignored. God wrote this promise in His Word to be claimed.
not simply red. It says we know. The term used for no is the Greek word for absolute unshakable confidence.
Now the second. God causes The project is God's, not ours. The project is God's. not ours. We think the situation is our situation.
It's God's situation. He's at work on my life. Hold your place and look at Jeremiah chapter 18. The prophet is given an assignment. God says to his prophet, Arise and go down to the potter's house.
And there I shall announce my words to you. And I went down to the potter's house and There he was making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter.
So he remade it. into another vessel. as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Can I not? O house of Israel, Deal with you as this potter Does.
declares the Lord. Behold, Like the clay in the potter's hand, So are you in my hand. O house of Israel. Eugene Peterson, in his book Run with the Horses, writes this of the Potter's House. and the potter's skill.
Jeremiah's imagination went to work as he stood before this potter with his lump of clay and his wheel. Jeremiah had seen potters at work all his life, but today he saw something else. He saw God at work making a people for his glory a people of God. Persons Created in the image of God. necessary, but not only necessary, each one also beautiful.
And beautiful. But not only beautiful, each one also necessary. Each human being is an inseparable union of necessity and freedom. There is no human being who is not useful with a part to play in what God is doing. May I read it again?
You belong in that picture. There is no human being who is not useful with a part to play in what God is doing. And there is no human being who is not unique with special lines and colors and forms distinct from anyone else. All this came clear to Jeremiah in the potter's house. the brute fact of the clay, lumpish and inert.
Shaped for a purpose by the hands of the potter, and then, as it took shape, the realization of the uniquely designed individuality and wide-ranging usefulness it would acquire as a finished pot, painted and baked and glazed. God shapes us for His eternal purposes, and He begins right here. Jeremiah continued to observe. What would the potter now do? kick the wheel and go off in a sulk.
Throw the clay at the cat. and go to the market and purchase another brand? Neither. He reworked it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to do. God needs, K-N-E-A-D-S, God needs and presses, pushes, and pulls.
The creative work starts over again patiently, skillfully. God doesn't give up. God doesn't throw away what is spoiled. That includes your life. And mine.
No matter how bruising the past has been. No matter how deep the pain. No matter how wrong the actions. No matter how long the addiction You are not a spoiled product. You are being reshaped.
And Romans 8:28 is the statement declaring the reshaping because God is causing it to happen. He knows it all, He is good to the core, He is enveloped in compassion, and because of His mercy, He never stops working on your clay. Never. Never takes a vacation. Never takes a night or day off.
Even when we slumber and sleep, our master is at work on us and in us. God's causing it to happen. The project is really his. Not ours.
Now, back to Romans 8:28. We know God causes. all things to work together. The plan is total, not partial. The plan is total, not partial.
This is the part that's so difficult to get our heads around because of our limited perspectives. We see now, God sees forever. We see today, God sees 20 years from now. We see our little world. God sees a broader circle that includes who knows how many people will be impacted.
The plan is total, not partial. I love the word all. All things work together. together. Douglas Mu writes, nothing will touch our lives that is not under the control and direction of our Heavenly Father.
Everything we do and say, everything people do to us or say about us, every experience we will ever have, all are sovereignly used by God for our good. We will not always understand how the things we experience work to good. And we certainly will not always enjoy them, but we do know that nothing comes into our lives that God does not allow and use for His beneficent purposes. I've said for years that we live our lives under the mighty hands of God, and nothing touches us that is not allowed to pass through the fingers of those hands. Nothing.
Nothing. Nothing you could name, nothing you could put in the margin of your Bible falls in a category that's outside the realm of what God has allowed, permitted, or in fact directed. He is in charge of it all. All of it.
Now, for a moment, look back at the initials you put beside your 28th verse. It includes that as well. Right there. In your own handwriting you put that down. And now to make it even more delightful and amazing and mysterious, it all works together for good.
Yeah. I can just Feel the chill that came up some people's spines. You're telling me that what happened to me was good? No, I'm not. I didn't say that.
I said it worked together for good. Much of what happens isn't good. Much of what happens is downright wrong. and unfair. Much of what happens is brutal.
Shocking. Demoralizing. But in God's overall plan, which is like a massive panoramic umbrella, God is at work doing His work and carrying out His plan. And you can always count on this. Your Heavenly Father will never allow anything to cross your path that will work to your detriment.
Ever. Ever. You will not read this in the media. You will not hear about this at school. You will not run across this in the neighborhood conversation.
This comes from the scriptures. This is the vertical perspective on life. John Luxenham wrote it in these words, titling it God's handwriting He writes in characters too grand for our short sight, To understand, we catch but broken strokes and try to fathom all the mystery of withered hopes, of death, of life. The endless war, the useless strife. But there, with larger, clearer sight, we shall see this his way.
was right. What's God working on? What's the purpose of it all? What's the underlying plan? Verse 29.
Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son. Don't read any further. Those whom he foreknew, we've just said he knows all things, he knows all about us, he has predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son. John Stott put it in these words: In the simplest possible terms, God's purpose for his people is that we should become like Jesus. That's why it's happened.
That's why the pain continues. That's why the struggle goes on. That's why you're at a loss to explain it. He is shaping your clay to look like Jesus. I read one time of a great sculptor who was working on a massive piece of marble.
With plans to sculpt a massive lion's head The public came and went, walking by, shaking their heads, wondering how in the world he could sculpt a lion's head out of that shapeless block of marble. His answer was simple. He smiled and said, I just chip away everything that doesn't look like a lion's head. God chips away at everything that doesn't look like Jesus. And there's a lot of it in your life.
And there's a ton of it in mine. He chipped away last year at something in my life that didn't look at all like Jesus. He's chipping away right now at something that is not like Jesus. And he knows what he's doing and he has to do it in me. There's no other way Jesus will emerge.
There's no other way the image will come out. It has to be like this. If it didn't, he would not be doing it. But his plan is to conform me, is to conform you to the image of his son. God knows we need more images like his son on this planet.
He needs us to speak for Him. He needs us to represent Him. He needs us to stand for Him. He needs us to be His representatives. And so he doesn't quit with just foreknowing.
Look at the William Charles Robinson calls this the five links in the golden chain that tie together the acts of God. Look, he foreknew us. Keep reading, verse 29. He predestined us. Keep reading verse 30.
He called us. Keep reading verse 30. He justified us. Continue reading. He also glorified us.
He foreknew, he predestined, he called, he justified, he glorified. It's his project. He's all over it. He isn't going to quit. He knows the plan.
There's Philippians 1:6 written all over this verse. He who began a good work in you will accomplish it, working at it till the day of Jesus Christ.
Now, let me tell you the truth here. I have not always embraced this doctrine. There was a time in my life, especially during my early years in ministry, and Cynthia could tell you better than anyone else today. When I really struggled with God's eternal purposes and His predestined plan and His calling and His working and all events. I could see only the cruelty, only the hardship, only the pain, the disappointment.
the things people were going through, the blood and the guts of life. And I remember wrestling with it and wrestling with it.
So, my first response to God's providence initially was rejection. Just rejection. Why? Because it didn't square with my horizontal plan. of God, my picture of God.
I thought of him as an old man with a long beard, a lot older than anybody else, but a lot like other people, but just older. Then I realize he's not at all like us. Isaiah writes, His ways are higher than my ways, and his thoughts greater than my thoughts. Isaiah 55, 8 and 9 state that. My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord, neither are your ways my ways.
My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
So I began then to tolerate it. Since I can't reject it, it's got it in His Word. I'll tolerate it. Maybe it's true here, but it's not so true there. Then I had trouble with trying to define almost sovereign.
Like I'm almost a husband. Ye is or you ain't? You're or you aren't sovereign. He's sovereign. Then I need to embrace it.
And so do you. And let it be. One of my mentors used to say, We spend too much time trying to unscrew the inscrutable. Don't go there. You know, the great tragedy is that this truth will lie dormant.
Listen to me now. This truth will be like gold. And if you're not careful, you'll just fiddle around with the wrappings and miss the gift. You'll miss the gold. Listen to this true story.
Some years ago, my family and I were visiting the city of Bedford, England. a little west of where we were living in Cambridge. In the heart of Bedford stands a larger-than-life statue of the famed seventeenth-century. Author John Bunyan, in fact, So imposing is the size of that sculpture that some prankster. has painted bold, gigantic white footsteps.
from the edifice all the way to the public toilets. The message implied sarcastically or otherwise that Bunyan still lives. Any reader of literature knows that Though Bunyan has long been dead, his brilliant work, Pilgrim's Progress, does indeed live on. That book has been translated into more languages than any other book in history, with the exception of the Bible. We wandered through the museum built to his memory.
Where there was exhibited a copy of the book in every language in which it has been printed. We were quite impressed by the people of various nationalities engrossed in the display, walking from room to room, studying the exhibits. As I was leaving, I commented to the woman at the front desk: Isn't it amazing that a simple little book? from the hands of a mender of pots and pans has won such worldwide acclaim. She paused and said, I I suppose that is true, but I must confess that I haven't read it.
If there hadn't been a hard floor beneath me, I would have voluntarily fainted. Unable to help myself, I asked her Why not? I found it too difficult, I suppose, came the very dispassionate reply. If shock were to be measured along a scale, at this point, I was nearly off the chart. What does one say to the person who sells tickets to a museum?
the existence of which is owed to one book, While she herself has left the work unread. I recommended that for the sake of sheer curiosity, if not propriety, she might at least try the children's version.
So she could get a mild taste of what the interest was all about, and then the clincher. What a remarkable illustration of self-inflicted poverty. It is possible to hold a treasure in your hand, but be ignorant of it and go for the wrapping instead. This proximity to truth and distance from its worth. Is repeated innumerable numbers of times.
in our lives. In Chesterton's words, we hold the dust and let the gold. Go free. You have the gold in this book. You have the gold.
in this verse. It is the gold of life. It is golden. It will hold you together when nothing else will. Don't just Fiddle with the wrappings.
Come to terms with what it's saying to you personally. Apply it directly to those initial words in the margin of your Bible. And understand God's preserved it for you today. Today Knowing that you may not have another day to live. Today.
Claim it. Maybe we bow our heads together. You've heard enough about God to know whether or not you and He are on speaking terms. The good news is, the one who knows you the best loves you the most. Had he wanted to get rid of you, he would have done that long ago.
Nothing all that great has happened from you in your life. He could have done that, but he chose not to. And by his grace, he's brought you to today for a purpose. And that purpose is beyond your comprehension and mine. He has a plan.
to make you like Jesus, but it has to start with where Jesus died for you. That's the cross. That's the cross. That's the cross. where he paid the complete Payment.
for your sins. He died with open arms, as if to say, Come to me. all you who are overburdened, And I will give you rest. Trust me. Believe in me.
Believe in me. Trust him now.
Now.
Now, Lord God, forgive us for the years spent. playing with ribbon and paper in The wrappings. missing the gift of this golden statement. Thank you for your person. Thank you that you have given us yourself and your Son.
and with him your plan for our lives. Find us. willing, mouldable lumps of clay. Desirous of being fitted and shaped. for the Master's use.
I ask it in Jesus' name. Ever once said. Amen. Providence means that. God causes all circumstances to work together for our ultimate good.
So, rather than trying to fix everything ourselves, we can rest in the absolute knowledge that our Heavenly Father is actively shaping us, like a potter molds clay, for His eternal purposes. This is Insight for Living, and Chuck Swindahl titled today's study in Romans chapter 8. Providence made practical. After hearing a message like this one, it's possible you're mulling over a crisis in your own life. Perhaps a broken relationship or a deep disappointment had been and you're desperately trying to understand whether God knows or even cares.
To resolve these issues and to begin moving forward, we invite you to take a deep dive into Paul's letter to the Romans. By doing so, you'll begin to grasp the beauty and magnificence of God's providence. By the way, the Insight mobile app provides access to Chuck's sermons on the Roman series for free. This allows you to hear each sermon at your own convenience. Just download the Insight mobile app from your favorite app store and you're ready to listen.
And today we're pleased to offer a special downloadable PDF that features the fifth chapter in Chuck's biography of Abraham, the patriarch of the faith. The book is called Abraham. One Nomad's Amazing Journey of Faith. And this chapter is called, Can We Talk? In this highly personal chapter, Chuck describes how Abraham cultivated his friendship with God and the benefits that followed.
Juck wrote, The Lord has your future blessings all planned out. ready to be released when your spirit is mature enough to receive them. This time-limited offer is available to our current monthly companions and to anyone who decides to become a new monthly companion. As a monthly companion, you agree to give an automated contribution every month. and you set the amount that's best for you.
You can get started today by calling us at 800-772-8888. or go to insight.org slash monthly companion. Are you facing opposition in your life? Need courage? I'm Bill Meyer.
Chuck Swindahl reminds us that nothing can separate us from God's love. Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Providence Made Practical, was copyrighted in 2007, 2010, and 2025. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl Inc.
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