What does the Bible say about everything happens for a reason?
Have you ever felt discouraged when things didn’t go your way, only to look back later and say to yourself, ‘That’s why God did it’? We may not always understand what God is doing, but He is at work. God isn’t like us, He doesn’t enter into anything without a plan. He won’t abandon you. He has your back and cares for you deeply. Whether you see it or not, God is moving. He’s working in you and around you for His glory and your good. He’s shaping you to be more like Jesus—something you desired. He’s strengthening your prayer life and deepening your trust in Him—exactly what you prayed for. He’s answering you.
I encourage you not to waste this time worrying. What good does that do? Instead, use this season to grow in your prayer life and seek His face. Take this opportunity to know Him better and rest in Him. God can do far more than we could ever ask or imagine. Everything happens for His reason. Let’s grow in our trust in Him. Let’s dive in.
Romans 8:28 (NIV) – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Proverbs 16:4 (ESV) – “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV) – “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”
Genesis 50:20 (NASB) – “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
Isaiah 46:10 (KJV) – “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”
Ephesians 1:11 (NLT) – “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”
Job 42:2 (Holman) – “I know that You can do anything and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.”
Psalm 138:8 (NIV) – “The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.”
Proverbs 19:21 (NKJV) – “There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Romans 11:36 (NASB) – “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Psalm 33:11 (KJV) – “The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.”
Philippians 2:13 (NLT) – “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Isaiah 55:9 (Holman) – “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Colossians 1:16 (NIV) – “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV) – “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
Daniel 4:35 (ESV) – “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.”
Psalm 115:3 (NASB) – “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”
Matthew 10:29 (KJV) – “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”
Lamentations 3:37 (NLT) – “Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission?”
Acts 17:26 (Holman) – “From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.”
James 4:15 (NIV) – “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”
Psalm 37:23 (NKJV) – “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.”
Habakkuk 2:3 (ESV) – “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come.”
1 Chronicles 29:11 (NASB) – “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth.”
John 16:33 (KJV) – “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
2 Corinthians 4:17 (NLT) – “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”
Isaiah 14:24 (Holman) – “The Lord of Hosts has sworn: As I have purposed, so it will be; as I have planned it, so it will happen.”
Romans 9:21 (NIV) – “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”
Psalm 139:16 (NKJV) – “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.”
Ecclesiastes 7:14 (ESV) – “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other.”
Job 23:13 (NASB) – “But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does.”
Luke 12:7 (KJV) – “But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
1 Peter 4:19 (NLT) – “So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.”
Isaiah 45:7 (Holman) – “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
Romans 8:31 (NIV) – “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Proverbs 20:24 (NKJV) – “A man’s steps are of the Lord; how then can a man understand his own way?”
Psalm 90:12 (ESV) – “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
Acts 4:28 (NASB) – “To do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.”
Matthew 6:26 (KJV) – “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”
2 Timothy 1:9 (NLT) – “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time.”
Deuteronomy 31:8 (Holman) – “The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Romans 15:13 (NIV) – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Psalm 119:91 (NKJV) – “They continue this day according to Your ordinances, for all are Your servants.”
Revelation 4:11 (ESV) – “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Job 14:5 (NASB) – “Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have set his limits so that he cannot pass.”
John 9:3 (KJV) – “Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”
Hebrews 12:11 (NLT) – “No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”
Isaiah 25:1 (Holman) – “Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV) – “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
