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||    Pope Shenouda    ||    Father Matta    ||    Bishop Mattaous    ||    Fr. Tadros Malaty    ||    Bishop Moussa    ||    Bishop Alexander    ||    Habib Gerguis    ||    Bishop Angealos    ||    Metropolitan Bishoy    ||

All things work together for good to those who love God

God is the beneficent. All what he makes for

you is good.

But if you were hit by evil acts from evil people:

so long as your life is in God’s hands, He is capable of

converting the evil to good. And that is clear from

what Joseph the Righteous said to his brothers: “But

as for you, you meant evil against me; but God

meant it for good… to save many people alive” (Gn

50:20).

Joseph was sold as a slave. And in Egypt he faced

an unjust accusation from his master’s wife and he

was thrown in prison… All this was evil, but God

converted it all to Good. Then Pharaoh got to know

him though his dream interpretations and made him

the Second in the Kingdom. And Joseph became “a

father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a

ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Gn 45:8).

􀀿 􀀿 􀀿

The spiritual concept: All things work

together for good, is found in the Holy Bible

storied as we find it in our common life too.

We also find it in many chapters of the Church

History and life stories of saints:

􀂙 The imprisoning of St. Paul the Apostle in Philippi

seemed as if it was evil but God converted it into

good through the miracle of saving this great apostle

and making the Jailer believe in Jesus and baptizing

him and all his family (Ac 16).

􀂙 Sending St. Paul the Apostle to be judged before

Caesar in Rome also was converted to good and was

a reason behind the establishment of the Church in

Rome by this apostle because there he “dwelt two

whole years in his own rented house, and received all

who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and

teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus

Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.” (Ac

28:30, 31).

􀂙 Exiling St Athanasius, the Apostolic, four

times to countries in the west by the order of the

Emperor and conspiracies of the Arians seemed as

evil, conspiracy and abuse of authority against him

but God converted all this to good because Pope

Athansius was preaching the right faith in every place

he gets exiled to and establishes churches and groups

of believers. And the traces of St. Athansius are still

there in these countries until today…

􀂙 Also all the persecutions that Christianity

faced from the Roman Empire in the days of Nero

and Decius and others and all the brutality, injustice

and torture that seemed evil in itself… but God

converted all this to good so it resulted in giving us a

group of the Great Martyrs we have like St. George,

St. Mina, St. Theodore, and St. Boctor… All these

through whom we supplicate, and those who left us

very high examples to follow in courage and

steadiness on faith and in God’s hands supporting

them with miracles…

􀂙 Even hardships in general, even those that

seem evil, God makes out of them good. They

become a reason for depth in prayers and spirituality

in fasting and closeness to God who sends help.

􀂙 There is no doubt that the death of the father

of St. Antony the great had a great impact but God

turned it into good and made out of it a reason to

start monastical life. For Antony looked at his father’s

dead body and said to him: “Where is your greatness,

power and richness? You left the world unwillingly but

I will leave it with my own will and I will not wait until

they force me out of it”… so he started in the way of

monasticism…

And the same effect can be said about any death

case, people who love the Lord can benefit out of it

spiritually.

􀂙 God’s order of offering Isaac as a burnt

offering when God said to Abraham: “Take now your

son, your only son Isaac, whom you love… and offer

him there as a burnt offering on one of the

mountains…” (Gn 22:2). Which father can bear such a

trial?! But God turned it into good by saving Isaac on

one side and on the other side saying to Abraham:

“because you have done this thing, and have not

withheld your son, your only son-- blessing I will

bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your

descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the

sand which is on the seashore” (Gn 22:16, 17). Yes,

it is good, but to those who love the Lord.

Herod’s order to kill the children of

Bethlehem (Mt 2)… was undoubtedly evil in itself,

indicating extreme cruelty, dictatorship and violence.

But God made out of it good through the escape of

John son of Zachariah to the desert and his life in the

desert (Lk 1:80) and his acquiring the spirit and

power of Elijah. And another good thing coming out of

this was the coming of the Lord Christ and the Holy

Family to Egypt and His blessing to our country for

more than three years.

 

􀂙 We would like to also mention the persecution

of Saul the King to David the anointed of the

Lord:

It was an evil coming from Saul’s envy against

David and his fear from David’s courage and the love

people had to him. It is the ego that is filled with evil,

greed and revenge… Yet, God turned all this into

good. And David who “was ruddy, with bright eyes”

(1 S 16:12) who is a skillful player on the harp… to

David the mighty man of valor who can lead an army

and run a kingdom. He became tougher through

Saul’s persecution to him…

􀂙 Then what can we also say about David’s huge

sin:

It was evil. And God punished him for it harshly

(2 S 12).As for the good coming out of it, was what it

came out with of deep repentance and tears with

great humility of David’s soul which was reflected in

his psalms that we still use until today and benefit

from them spiritually.

􀂙 We would also like to mention Thomas doubt in

the Resurrection. It was something against the faith

and the Lord reproached him for it. But the good part

was in proving the Lord’s Resurrection and Thomas’

confession saying: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn

20:28).

􀂙 We also say about Heretics and their opposing

faith that:

All their thoughts were full of evil, ignorance,

doubts and trials to tear apart the church. But the

good in this was the response of saints to the doubts

that Heretics spread. So they established the faith

with proofs and convincing evidences. And St.

Aughestinous was truthful when he said: “We offer

our thanks to heretics because they made us get

deeper in studying the Holy Bible to respond to

them”.

􀀿 􀀿 􀀿

We notice the conversion of evil to good in

our general life too.

􀂙 The presence of problems leads to trying to find

solutions for them and that is good. Even mysteries

and complicated questions lead to deepening thinking

and more mind and intelligence exercising. Even the

hard to understand bible verses result in going deeper

in interpretation, explanation and clarification…

􀂙 And truthful is the saying that says: “the

need is the mother of invention”.

The need represents part of the hardship but the

good coming out of it is in the invention that covers

all needs.

The sight weakness led to inventing glasses. And

the hearing weakness led to inventing ear phones.

And the western countries need to find an easy

way to reach India and its spices is what led finally to

discovering America with the scientists reaching the

belief in the fact the Earth is a globe.

􀂙 Also the existence of diseases led to more

scientific research to discover remedies for these

diseases. And discovering ways to prevent them. No

doubt, microbes and germs are evil in themselves but

their presence helped in aiming to discover

Antibiotics. And the scientists discovering Penicillin, Streptomycin, Sulpha and others. Added to all this,

the discovery of all medical equipment that was

caused by the need…

􀂙 Disasters also were motives for social

service which is good.

Accidents resulted in reaching the idea of using

ambulances and the efforts done by the Red Cross

and the Red Crescent Associations. Also fires lead to

thinking of all methods to extinguish them.

􀂙 The orphan was the reason behind establishing

orphanages to protect orphans.

And similarly was the need of behind thinking

of building shelter centers: either for expatriate

students, or establishing homes for elders.

Also disabilities lead to finding different ways of

serving the disabled whether they were deaf, mute,

blind or mentally disabled… also lead to all the social

activities that serve those and similar cases which is

good that God wants with all those who have loving

heart feelings in serving others.

􀂙 Shall we also say that assaults lead to putting

laws and a renaissance in the judicial system? And all

this is good.

Even the spread of corruption, lead to a wakeup

in human conscience, cautious scrutiny and

punishment to prevent corruption and deviation.

􀂙 Pain may be seen by people as evil, but it

works for the good: for if it was not for the pain

that the body feels, the disease would have never

been discovered and treated. And the evilest

diseases are the ones that spread without causing

pain or with a pain that comes at later stages after it

is too late…

Also many times, the pain of the patient leads to

his repentance and draws him closer to God if it was

used in the right way.

Also the soul pain purifies the soul, and elevates

it and truthful was the Prince of Poets, Ahmed

Shawky when he said:

And I was entertained with the genius pain

and the most genius thing in life is pain

􀂙 Poverty: if man benefited from it, it leads to

fighting and making a self-made person who is

independent.

And in all this the bible says: “All things work

together for good to those who love God”. Meaning,

this is not applicable for whiners or the unwise but to

those who try to benefit from every situation they find

themselves in so it leads them to good. What also

leads to good is faith in God, patience and waiting on

God in hope and without despair.

||    The Orthodox Faith (Dogma)    ||    Family and Youth    ||    Sermons    ||    Bible Study    ||    Devotional    ||    Spirituals    ||    Fasts & Feasts    ||    Coptics    ||    Religious Education    ||    Monasticism    ||    Seasons    ||    Missiology    ||    Ethics    ||    Ecumenical Relations    ||    Church Music    ||    Pentecost    ||    Miscellaneous    ||    Saints    ||    Church History    ||    Pope Shenouda    ||    Patrology    ||    Canon Law    ||    Lent    ||    Pastoral Theology    ||    Father Matta    ||    Bibles    ||    Iconography    ||    Liturgics    ||    Orthodox Biblical topics     ||    Orthodox articles    ||    St Chrysostom    ||   

||    Bible Study    ||    Biblical topics    ||    Bibles    ||    Orthodox Bible Study    ||    Coptic Bible Study    ||    King James Version    ||    New King James Version    ||    Scripture Nuggets    ||    Index of the Parables and Metaphors of Jesus    ||    Index of the Miracles of Jesus    ||    Index of Doctrines    ||    Index of Charts    ||    Index of Maps    ||    Index of Topical Essays    ||    Index of Word Studies    ||    Colored Maps    ||    Index of Biblical names Notes    ||    Old Testament activities for Sunday School kids    ||    New Testament activities for Sunday School kids    ||    Bible Illustrations    ||    Bible short notes

||    Pope Shenouda    ||    Father Matta    ||    Bishop Mattaous    ||    Fr. Tadros Malaty    ||    Bishop Moussa    ||    Bishop Alexander    ||    Habib Gerguis    ||    Bishop Angealos    ||    Metropolitan Bishoy    ||

||    Prayer of the First Hour    ||    Third Hour    ||    Sixth Hour    ||    Ninth Hour    ||    Vespers (Eleventh Hour)    ||    Compline (Twelfth Hour)    ||    The First Watch of the midnight prayers    ||    The Second Watch of the midnight prayers    ||    The Third Watch of the midnight prayers    ||    The Prayer of the Veil    ||    Various Prayers from the Agbia    ||    Synaxarium