"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." Genesis 51:20
This comes from the story of Joseph, who was sold to the Egyptians to become a slave by jealous brothers. Joseph was accused and punished for crimes he did not commit and his brothers did treacherous and ungodly things to him. Many people along the way hated Joseph and he was mocked, lied about, tortured, ruined and despised by many. Joseph had it rough and everything that could go wrong went wrong. The people that hated him didn't have a cause.
Here's the question that so many people ask. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I have had to deal with this in my life and offer consolation to others that have asked this question. But over the years I have learned that this is not a question that should be asked by us about God. The question shouldn't be "Why do bad things happen to good people." The question should be, "what are you going to do with what God allowed to happen?"
What happened happened. I know the pain of awful things coming my way and maybe you do to. Your pain might be that your loved ones haven't come to Jesus or maybe you are real sick. Maybe you have lost all hope and you think that God wouldn't heal you if He could, because you don't feel that you properly reconciled yourself for past sins or whatever. Maybe a friend betrayed you or fellow workers lied about you to get rid of you. Maybe people believe a lie about you because someone said something hurtful. The point is, God is going to be God without your consent. What are you going to do with what God allowed to happen? Rather than give you all the things you could say or do that don't work, let's get to the quick. God is God and will be God with or without your recognition, but you have the right as a believer to interact with God, to bring to pass a desired outcome. You were designed to co-create with God. It's true, what you think and what you have faith to believe for plays an interactive role in what God allows to happen.
If you want to wallow in the mire of disillusionment and despair, blaming God for all the things that have gone wrong, go ahead. But you can, if you want to, decide that you aren't going to allow what happened in your life to rob you even further of what lies ahead. Get with God on this. Try to trust Him with your tomorrows. Make an attempt to seek the mind of God and offer your suggestions to God. Try to believe that God wants to co-create the future with you, using what you have along with your faith to create something even more wonderful than you ever dreamed. Try to understand that what God allowed to happen is in His hands. Try to trust that God has a greater interest in those in whom you love and yourself than you do.
If you just can't do that because you are too bitter, if you are a believer, simply ask God to change your mind. God will do it because God is God. What if you don't ask God to change your mind and you decide to hold firm, mad and hardened against God? God loves you so much that even if you hold fast and firm, disillusioned and frothing with anger, God will continue to do good things for you and bring to pass wonderful things on your behalf. If you won't recognize that it is God working on you behalf to bring about a desired end, God is OK with that. You won't feel the hand of God and you won't rest assured that all will work out, but God isn't going to give up on you because you are stubborn to believe, obstinate in responding quickly to God or simply ignorant of what God is doing.
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