Buttermilk, Baking, and the Best Promise of This Life

Dr. Marc Drake, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church Sun Lakes

One Sunday morning at a small southern church, the new pastor called on one of his older deacons to lead in the opening prayer. The deacon stood up, bowed his head, and said, “Lord, I hate buttermilk.” Well, the pastor opened one eye and wondered where this was going. The deacon continued, “Lord, I hate lard.” Now the pastor is getting more perplexed by the minute. The deacon continued, “Lord, I ain’t too crazy about plain flour. But after you mix ‘em all together and bake ‘em in a hot oven, I just love biscuits!”

Then the deacon prayed: “Lord, help us to realize when life gets hard, when things come up that we don’t like, whenever we don’t understand what you are doing, that we need to wait and see what you are making. After you get through mixing and baking, it’ll probably be something even better than biscuits.”

That unique prayer is a great illustration of Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Commenting on this verse, 19th century British pastor Charles Spurgeon said, “It is better that all things should work for my good than all things should be as I would wish to have them. All things might work for my pleasure and yet might all work my ruin. If all things do not always please me, they will always benefit me. This is the best promise of this life.”

Granted, there are many things in life we can’t understand now. But one day in heaven, believers will, no doubt, look back with joy on the things they have suffered and see clearly that their greatest trials were a part of the “all things” that God worked together for eternal good! As Spurgeon said, “This is the best promise of this life.”

So, come what may, we should rejoice in the Lord and in His sovereignty overall. He will never leave us, and all we need we have in Christ. In writing to believers, the apostle Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”