In our busy and sometimes anxious lives, most of us could spend more time reflecting on God’s goodness: listening and being nurtured, like Martha’s sister Mary, at Jesus’ feet. One place where he reveals his goodness is in his promise that for those who love him, “all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). Here we have a divine source for growing contentment, peace, and cheerful satisfaction along life’s journey, including through suffering and death. In his book, All Things For Good, the English Puritan pastor, Thomas Watson (1620–1686) compares God’s promise of all things working together to a skilled pharmacist mixing ingredients, each in the right amount, so that they will bring healing and strength. Too much of one thing or another could either negate any beneficial effect or even make it effectively poisonous. Through his wise providences, God brings all things—the best and the worst we experience—in the right selection, concentration, amount, and timing, working them together:  “He who loves God and is called according to his purpose, may rest assured that everything in the world shall be for his good.”¹ 

Our Lord makes clear in his Word that among the best things that work together for good are his own promises. Because God is God, he always fulfills his promises: “the word that I speak will be performed, declares the Lord God” (Ezek. 12:28). Though paid to curse Israel, Balaam was compelled to declare, “God is not a man that he should lie, or a son of man that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Num. 23:19). Our God always “remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). The Apostle Peter tells us that it is by “[God’s] own glory and excellence” that “he has granted to us his precious and very great promises” (2 Peter 1:3–4). His promises strengthen our souls when we are weak and weary, fearful, or despairing. They are refreshing water for the thirsty, and nourishing food for the hungry. 

Promises for our Deepest Problems 

No doubt the greatest promises that God gives for our good are those that speak to our deepest problems. Do you feel the guilt of your sin, the weight of your sin against God, in all his holiness and perfect justice? His promise is that he is “the Lord… merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:6–7). He calls you to come to him, confessing your guilt and sin, because “Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.”² He is merciful to everyone who comes to him, not because we deserve it, but because he is merciful, delighting in mercy. His promise is, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Psalm 107 marvelously tells us of our Lord’s delight and power to deliver: “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress” (Psa. 107:13). He justifies, sanctifies, preserves, and glorifies his weak and sinful children.  

Perhaps you are in deep trouble, and not all because of your own sin. Our Lord has given you many promises for your good in this as well. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). “God does not bring his people into troubles and leave them there:”³ he remains with them. God promises, “I will be with him in trouble” (Psa. 91:15). His promise is that he is our strength in weakness: “he is their strength in the time of trouble” (Psa. 37:39); “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Watson states that when we feel faint, “God will be our strength… either he will make his hand lighter, or our faith stronger.”⁴ 

Promises for Daily Needs 

God also gives us many promises for our work, finances, and relationships: “Those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing” (Psa. 34:10). If it is good for us, we will have it; if it is not good for us, our Lord’s wise withholding is good. We can remember that “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psa. 23:1). In Exodus 23, God promises that he “will bless your bread and your water” (Ex. 23:25). Remember that in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord teaches and promises, “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’, or ‘What shall we wear?’ For… your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:31–33). Writing from prison to the Philippians, the apostle Paul declared, “my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). 

Promises for Suffering, Uncertainty, and Death 

What about health and sickness? God gives us many promises that apply to us in seasons of sickness. It is his joy to both give and fulfill these promises for our good. In Psalm 34, our Lord beautifully gives us promises to encourage us in suffering and uncertainty: “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them… Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing… Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psa. 34:6–7, 10, 19). In Psalm 107, there is one example after another of suffering, including physical suffering. In each case, there is a spiritual turning point that is a part of ultimate deliverance: “then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress… Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love” (Psa. 107:19–22). The Lord promises that he hears and answers the cries of those who look to him in their distress. In the Sermon on the Mount, he tells us, “Do not be anxious about your life… which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to the span of his life?” Why not be anxious? Because “your heavenly Father knows all your needs”; “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:25–33). Peter echoes the same promise: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6–7). 

Promises Bringing Joy and Peace 

Even as James calls us to “count it all joy… when you meet trials of various kinds,” he reminds us of the Lord’s promise, “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4). Later, near the end of the epistle, the apostle returns to this theme: “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). The Apostle Peter reminds us of the sure salvation and glorious inheritance we have through Christ, and encourages us: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:1–7). And then there is the great promise, given by our Lord Jesus during his earthly ministry: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25–26). “Beloved, we are God’s children now… we know that when he appears we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Death itself is answered by God’s promises to us in Christ. The Bible is full of countless promises for all who come to Christ—and they are one of the marvelous ways God is working all things together for good, for those who love him.