God's Ways Are Good to the Last Drop

 My morning coffee & everything
that goes into making it

Raise your hand…any big coffee drinkers out there? I am. One reason is that my husband makes really good coffee. Another reason is that I am not, repeat NOT, a morning person and I need my coffee to wake up. I can't help it - it's genetic. I come from a long line of non-morning, coffee drinking people. To give you an idea, legend has it that my dad wouldn’t eat Rice Krispies for breakfast when he was a young man because they made too much noise. Sadly, I can relate.

Suffice it to say, coffee is a very important part of my day. When I take that first sip, I usually make that “Ahhhhh” sound and think to myself, now this is GOOD.  

Interestingly, Author Max Lucado made an analogy likening that good cup of coffee to God’s work in our lives:

 “When you sip on a cup of coffee and say, ‘This is good,’ what are you saying? The plastic bag that contains the beans is good? The beans themselves are good? Hot water is good? A coffee filter is good? No, none of these. Good happens when the ingredients work together: the bag opened, the beans ground into powder, the water heated to the right temperature. It is the collective cooperation of the elements that creates good.”  (Read his whole article here.)

In the same way, Lucado says, God takes all the circumstances of life - the mundane and humdrum, even the negative and the bitter - and uses them as raw materials to create something good. In fact, God promises this very thing to us in the Bible:

“All things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

We would never call sickness “good.” Or joblessness. Or loneliness. But we can trust that in the midst of pain and difficulty, God is busy working behind the scenes, turning it all around for our benefit and His glory. It may not happen tomorrow, or next week, or even next year, but God PROMISES that when the process is complete, the result will be worth it. Maybe getting passed over for one job now is keeping the door open for the perfect job later on. Maybe a bad breakup today will result in finding Mr. Right tomorrow. Or maybe His work is more internal – maybe He’s developing inner strength, greater faith, or a powerful testimony. The possibilities are endless as to how God intends to forge our present difficulties into something wonderful.

How is God working in your life today to create something good?