Romams 8.26-39: All Things

Paul wrote to the church in Rome reminding them of something they apparently already knew: that all things worked together for good for those who love God (Romans 8:28). Note that Paul didn't say that all things were good. Rather, in God's hands all things can be made to work together for good. Joseph knew the truth as well. After he revealed his presence to his brothers in Egypt, he told them that though they intended Joseph's sale to the passing caravan to be detrimental to him (Joseph), God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20)

How you perceive something has to do with context.

Josef Albers understood that color worked the same way. Albers was first a student and then a professor at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, in the early part of the 20th century. Albers and his wife Anni (a textile artist and Bauhaus graduate) were invited to America in 1933 to develop the visual art curriculum at Black Mountain College (NC).

In 1963 Albers published Interaction of Color, a limited edition book with silkscreen illustrations demonstrating the truth of color: the same color will be perceived differently depending on the colors it is next to.

In the example top left, the purple circles appear to the be same color as they sit on black and grey backgrounds. The two circles are actually two different colors, as demonstrated by the bars of color beneath the circles-in-squares. Context. Perception. 

What about the grid pattern on the yellow and blue backgrounds? Are the grids the same color or different colors? Do you perceive the grid color differently because of the two colors that are the background...because of the context in which the grids are placed?

It's worth remembering that God doesn't see things as humans do. God's view is longer and broader than ours. What we perceive as good, God may perceive as detrimental. What we see as disaster, God may see as preparation. What we believe is the end may be a beginning. What you meant for evil, God meant for good.

Scripture tells us that good things, detrimental things, disasters, preparation, ends, and beginnings are all in God's hand. And God can use all those things for good.

For Josef and Anni Albers, see the Joseph and Anni Albers Foundation.
For the 50th Anniversary Edition of Interaction of Color, see Yale University Press.