Buttermilk Biscuits and Romans 8:28
Yesterday morning, I picked up my copy of Jerry Bridges’ Trusting God, Even When Life Hurts and read the tenth chapter, “Experiencing God’s Love.” As Bridges develops the biblical teaching that discipline (character training toward Christlikeness) is a mark of God’s love and commitment to His children, he writes, “[I]n God’s infinite wisdom and love, He takes all the events of our lives –both good and bad—and blends them together so that they work together ultimately for our good, the good that He intends.” He then shares the following illustration from his childhood.
While growing up in Texas, I enjoyed my mother’s buttermilk biscuits made from “scratch” every morning for breakfast. But there was not a single ingredient in those biscuits that I would have enjoyed by itself. And even after they were mixed together, I would not have cared for the raw biscuit dough. Only after they were mixed together in the right proportions by my mother’s skillful hands and then subjected to the fire of the oven were they ready to be enjoyed for breakfast.
The things of Romans 8:28 are like the ingredients of the biscuit dough. By themselves they are not tasteful to us. We shun them. And we certainly shun the heat of the oven. But when God in His infinite skill has blended them all together and cooked them properly in the oven of adversity, we shall one day say it is good.
For the believer, the God—who alone has the wisdom to mix together all things in our lives to fulfill His good purposes—can be trusted.
[Originally published June 23, 2014]
