Q. M. T. P. writes— “I should be glad if you would say a few words on that text in Romans, ‘All things work together for good to them that love God.’ Do the accusations of the enemy, and of our own hearts, work together for our good? They are not pleasant to bear. In what way do they work for our good?”
A. The passage supposes the consciousness of the perfect liberty of grace in which as believers we stand— “No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” “The law of the spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”— “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” The Spirit dwells in us, and “witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God.” If children, heirs, &c.; but we are not yet in possession of the inheritance, except as knowing it ours; and we find ourselves in a groaning creation; still subject to the effects of man’s sin: we are linked to it by a body still subject to death, while waiting for the adoption, to wit, its redemption. Our souls have been redeemed, our bodies are indwelt by the Spirit, which links us with heaven; as the body links us with the groaning creation. We have been saved in hope of the glory that comes, we learn in patience to wait for it; and in such a state of things we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the divine feeling produced in our hearts by the Spirit, expresses itself by a groan, which cannot be uttered; but into which the Spirit enters, and God, who searches the hearts, finds in us the mind of the Spirit, who “makes intercession for the saints according to God.” In such a state of things, although we do not know what to pray for as we ought, we do know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
Your question, “Do the accusations of the enemy and our own hearts work together for good” would not have place here; because the enemy has been silenced forever as to our acceptance with God. God Himself has proved Himself “for us,” and has justified us, so that the Holy Spirit asks in verse 33, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” There is none, — “Who is he that condemneth?” There could be, nay is, no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. As to the accusations of our own hearts, we have nothing to satisfy us in them; if we had, it would be a bad sign. We know that no matter how deep the discovery we make of the depths of our hearts, Christ has been under it all, and has put it away forever. We don’t think badly enough of ourselves. Once we have discovered that there is no “good thing” in us, and with the full knowledge of what we are, Christ died for us, and that He has delivered us completely and forever; we begin to think not at all of ourselves—we get done with ourselves altogether. The Spirit, who dwells in us, is grieved with the slightest shadow of failure or sin, and does not, nay could not, for the time, lead our souls into the enjoyment of our place and portion. He turns us in on our own hearts that we may see the evil and exercise self-judgment as to it; this we may confound with the “accusations of our own hearts.” The verse then shows us, that in such a state of things around us, God makes all things work together for our good (a precious consolation in the midst of trial and difficulty)—and so our heart is kept at rest: in the consciousness that His ends are accomplished in and for His people.
The word of our Lord, and the attentive ear of the true servant, are all we need to carry us safely and happily onward.
The little ones in God’s school are still living ones, and must be cared for.
The present portion of the saint is to be ever in the true tabernacle, and to be there with a purged conscience. He is never an outside worshipper, nor an uncleansed one.
The word servant is as inseparably linked with obedience, as work with workman; a servant must move when the bell rings. The proper language of a servant is, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.”