Good from Bad

Good from "Bad"

Bill Brinkworth

What a world this would be if bad things never happened; but since sin entered in, they always will. Many think that hard things should not happen to good people, but they do!

Just because a person is born into the family of God, does not mean he will be exempted from the consequences of natural disasters, disease, aging, others’ actions, and death. Being saved from hell does not magically put a force field around a person. Yes, God does protect us many times, but it still rains on the “just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45). Calamities and hard times will happen to everyone many times in their lives.

God could certainly protect us from all misfortunes, but the trials and tribulations in our lives often do much to strengthen us and get us closer to Him. It is during the hard times that we should grow closer to God, and trust Him to carry us through them. It is also during those times that our faith can grow, as we see his mighty hand of deliverance.

Many great and wonderful things have happened because of the “bad” times. Here are some “bad” events that happened to godly people in the Bible, and how God used those events to bring honor to Himself, to bless those going through the dilemma, and to bless others:

Noah. If Noah did not obey God and sweat for many years building the Ark, mankind would not have had a second chance.
Abraham. If Abraham had not come to the point that he chose God over everything else, including his son’s life, he may not have had God’s blessings on him and his generations.
Joseph: If Joseph’s jealous brothers had not thrown him in the pit and sold him into slavery, he never would have been second in command to the pharaoh and been able to help his family during a time of drought and starvation.
Children of Israel: If they never were in hard bondage in Israel, they may have accepted their plight and never turned to God for deliverance. Think of all the mighty miracles they saw, when He answered their prayers.
Moses: If he had never kept his father-in-law’s, Jethro’s, sheep and suffered loneliness in the wilderness, he would never have been in the place to see the burning bush and be called to be God’s people’s leader.
Moses: If the people of Israel were not pursued by the angry Egyptian pharaoh, they never would have seen the Red Sea part, not have seen their enemy destroyed, and not have known that He would certainly guide them.
Ruth: If Ruth had not been faithful to her mother-in-law and worked to support her, she never would have met the man she was to marry.
Hannah: If she had never gone to the temple to pray with a broken heart because of her barrenness, and made a vow until God to dedicate the child to Him, she may never had been the mother of Samuel and given Israel a godly leader.
Elijah: If Elijah never stood faithful to God when it was not popular, Israel may have indulged longer in the idolatry of Baalism.
Nehemiah: If Nehemiah did not love God and weep for Jerusalem, Jerusalem would never have been rebuilt.
Job: If Job had never been tested by Satan, he never would have had twice as much wealth and belongings as he had had originally (Job 42:12-13).
David: If David had not had hard times and heartbreaks, he never would have helped write much of the book of Psalms which has encouraged and blessed billions of people.
Daniel: If Daniel was never a captive of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he never would have been able to interpret the king’s dream and spare the lives of the other wisemen (Daniel 2) or be the leader he was.
Paul: If Paul was not shipwrecked on Malta, the island’s ruler’s father would never been healed of his fever.
Jesus: If Jesus never was mocked, persecuted, whipped, beaten, or lied about, we would never have escaped our due punishment in hell.

Sometimes hard times do come to people to turn them in a godly direction, or stop them from doing more damage to themselves or others. The difficult tribulations can get them closer to God, so they can see his mighty hand in helping them. Other times the trials can be to change a situation to the way God has planned.

There are people that spend their whole life mad and blaming God for the death of a loved one, or for a trial they went through. Do they possibly think that death will be missed by their loved ones, or that they will have a perfectly sheltered life because they are so “good”?

Hard times will and do come to everyone. No one is exempt. Those times are either a time to foolishly shake your fist at God, (which can only make matters worse), when you need Him the most, or to draw close to Him and see His mighty hand produce “good” from what seemed “bad”.

Why should bad things not happen to us? Are we more special than even God’s only son, who also went through hard times? God has a plan for all that happens in our lives, even though its purpose may be cloudy when we are going through it.

When going through a valley, it is the time to call for the God of the mountain. He sees what we are facing, and is willing to guide us through the hard times. Call upon Him and seek His help during those tribulations.

“God often digs wells of joy with the spade of sorrow!”

This lesson was featured in The Bible View #168.