Out of Everything Bad Comes Good

“These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though

refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

-1 Peter 1:7

                Life is filled with problems; some we create ourselves and others which are beyond our control. Anyone can have faith in God during fair weather; but, the true test of our faith is how we respond during stormy weather, when we can’t see our hand in front of our face. Most Christians have a very weak faith, a shallow faith, a temporary faith, which when a problem arises, they quit and behave no better than the pagans.

“Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well

as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.”

-Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

                Christ should be our example during our times of pain, mental anguish, and suffering. I know that overwhelming feeling of mental anguish. There have been times when I’ve felt like curling up in a ball. I know what it’s like to suffer overwhelming emotional pain. I know what it’s like to wake up from a nightmare to a bigger nightmare, unable to do anything about the situation. There have been many times when a second seemed like an hour and every hour like a day.

                I have learned during these times that we need to keep our eyes on the Lord. Do you think God is pleased when we only have faith during the good times? What about one’s faith during the storms of life? Christ can make everything right, when life seems so wrong. We are promised that all things will work together for the good for every born again Christian.

“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.”

-Romans 8:28

                The Bible doesn’t say everything that happens will always be good. What God promises is that everything will ultimately work together for the good according to His plans. Just like you need raw ingredients for a cake that you wouldn’t eat separately, all of the tragedies and bad experiences will work together for good if we believe on Jesus. We must trust the Lord and cast our cares upon Him continually, being patient and believing His word.

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you;

he will never let the righteous fall.”

-Psalm 55:22

“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who

are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed

from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.”

-2 Thessalonians 1:6-7

                We are also told that after everything is said and done, God will bring us happiness and satisfaction. There are things that will cause us to test our faith, but they won’t last long; they are only temporary. They are no comparison to what God has prepared and promised us.

“Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

-Psalm 30:5

Because of Man's Desire

If you don't thank God after every smile why do you blame Him after every tear?

          

              Everyone is so quick to blame God when something goes wrong. Lost a job? That person is cursing God. A loved one dies? “Why would you do that God?” But then when everything is going good for them, they seem to forget who God is and don’t thank Him for what He’s done in them. We should go to Him on all occasions and rejoice at all times.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your

gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Don not be anxious about anything,

but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

-Philippians 4:4-6

                Some people say that God is evil because He allows evil. But He only allows evil because that is what men who don’t give themselves up to the Lord have in their hearts. They block God and the Holy Spirit from entering their hearts. Therefore, not all bad comes from God, nor Satan; it comes from the hearts of men (although we can blame Satan because they allow Him to control their thoughts and actions.) God allows the bad to happen as the punishment to mankind for not accepting Him.

“He whose walk is blameless is kept safe, but he whose ways

are perverse will suddenly fall.”

-Proverbs 28:18

                If you look at the story of Noah and the ark, God did not cause the great flood for no reason. There was so much sin in the world and earthly desires in the hearts of men that He needed to bring the world back to order. In the story of Jonah and the big fish, Jonah did not end up in the world by God’s own decision. God had ordered Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and preach against its wickedness. But instead, he tried to run from God and boarded a ship. The sea grew rough and he knew that the only way to help save the other men was to sacrifice himself so he had them throw him into the water. God allowed the fish to swallow him so that he would not drown and perish in the ocean.

                Jerusalem and Judah turned away from God; they became traitors. In return the Lord said that He will bring disaster and oppression to them because of their own wrongdoing (Isaiah 3:4-9). He will take both supply and support from them, the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder, the captain and men of rank, the counselor, and the skilled craftsman (Isaiah 1-3). It wasn’t the Lord bringing unrighteous punishment. The Jews and the people of Judah brought it upon themselves by not allowing God’s will to be done and by not accepting Him as their god.

                God also allows bad to happen to test us. In the book of Job, God allows Satan to take everything in Job’s possession and give him sores all over his body. He does this to prove that Job was a faithful servant of the Lord. Job’s wife told him to curse God but Job replied, “Shall we accept good from God, and not troubles?”(Job 2:10) Three of Job’s friends kept putting down God but Job did not so in return, Job was made prosperous again and give him twice the blessings.

“God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will

be with you to keep you from sinning.”

-Exodus 20:20

“…to humble you and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.”

-Deuteronomy 8:16