Have you had something happened that appeared to be bad only to see how it worked out for the best later? Did you recognize it at the time? Did you recognize it later? Have you recognized it at all? Did it strengthen your faith? Did you give God the credit for using it for good?
Sometimes, things happen that we believe to be bad. They may even be bad. Yet, we are not to lose heart. We are to continue to believe God is in control. We are to believe that God can bring good from the bad. He has done it in the past and he can do it again in the future.
The pandemic was bad. Many, many people died during it. Many more continue to deal with the effects of being isolated for such a long time. However, God worked good through it in my life. I had been fired from IT consulting job. The additional unemployment payments I received allowed me to study and go to school to be a pastor.
We see in the book of Ruth how God uses another bad situation to work good. There was a famine in Israel. A man named Elimilech moves his wife and two sons to Moab to find food. Ultimately one of the sons marries a woman named Ruth. When we look at the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, we see Ruth’s name listed. Is it not amazing how God can use something bad to create good?
The next time something bad happens to you, do not wallow in misery. Instead, ask what God is doing. Ask what good he will bring from it. Ask God to reveal it to you. Do not ask God to give you what you want but reveal what he is doing that will result in good for his kingdom and according to his plan.
I pray we do not see bad things as the end. I pray we seek to see the good God can work from the bad. I pray each one of us will ask God to reveal to us the good he is doing in the midst of our struggles. God can work good from bad. Ask God to reveal his good to you. Know he is always working and always with you.
Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons.
Marty Pressey 