Before reading the article below, take some time to reflect and list out ¹losses you may have experienced or are experiencing.
Is it a...
*Failed (or failing) Marriage
*Family unit shattered because of divorce
*Business loss or failure
*Failed (or failing) Marriage
*Family unit shattered because of divorce
*Business loss or failure
*Betrayal by someone you trusted
*Premature or unexpected death of a loved one
*Decline in health (life-threatening sickness, hearing or memory loss, aging, or overall physical decline)
The problem with the Joseph story however (or rather how it is sometimes interpreted) is that many incorrectly assume the good that Joseph was referring to above is only better circumstances because that is what happened to him. We limit the good only to positive circumstances e.g., Joseph being in a position to keep many from starving. When we do, we will miss the ultimate good God is always doing when circumstances do not improve.
Our ultimate good is our increased union with God through the suffering we go through and our partaking more deeply in his love as a result. Why? So our relationship and experience of His love increases. And also so we can be more effective for Him and become a greater means by which others are drawn to Him.
Our greatest need is not necessarily having our circumstances "fixed" but rather a greater union and relationship with God Himself and our partaking of and participation in His infinite love more fully i.e. it's sometimes more important to experience more of God in His infinite love then experience improved circumstances.
Some of us may never experience improved circumstances from the trials of life. But all of us will experience a greater union and a stronger relationship and connection with God when we trust him through our struggles and pain.
For this reason we can always be grateful for all our struggles, no matter what the outcome or form they take - i.e., improved circumstances or not - or what causes them to occur - i.e., my poor choices or another's - because, when we trust Him, they become the means of drawing us closer to God and our entering more fully into his love. For this, we all can (and should) be grateful. Otherwise, we will become angry and bitter and miss the primary good He seeks to bring about in and through us.
*Decline in health (life-threatening sickness, hearing or memory loss, aging, or overall physical decline)
*Anything not listed that applies to you
Often when it looks like things are not working, but breaking down and going wrong, God is still doing good things, often the biggest and best things.
Often when it looks like things are not working, but breaking down and going wrong, God is still doing good things, often the biggest and best things.
How is that possible? It sounds backwards. What is it about pain or loss that is actually good or even best? Is it improved circumstances like Joseph experienced below?
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ” - Gen 50:20 ESV
Sometime God's is bringing about a miraculous outcome circumstantually (like Joseph) after a period of suffering. But not always or automatically. When bad things happen and go wrong, and we experience the opposite of Joseph's experience - i.e., circumstances not getting better - how is this best? Afterall we are told that all things work together for good for those who love God.
As a teenager, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers (betrayal). Then he wound up in jail and was forgotten more than once, but eventually was appointed to the second-in-command in the greatest nation of the world at that time.
The problem with the Joseph story however (or rather how it is sometimes interpreted) is that many incorrectly assume the good that Joseph was referring to above is only better circumstances because that is what happened to him. We limit the good only to positive circumstances e.g., Joseph being in a position to keep many from starving. When we do, we will miss the ultimate good God is always doing when circumstances do not improve.
Our ultimate good is our increased union with God through the suffering we go through and our partaking more deeply in his love as a result. Why? So our relationship and experience of His love increases. And also so we can be more effective for Him and become a greater means by which others are drawn to Him.
Our greatest need is not necessarily having our circumstances "fixed" but rather a greater union and relationship with God Himself and our partaking of and participation in His infinite love more fully i.e. it's sometimes more important to experience more of God in His infinite love then experience improved circumstances.
Some of us may never experience improved circumstances from the trials of life. But all of us will experience a greater union and a stronger relationship and connection with God when we trust him through our struggles and pain.
For this reason we can always be grateful for all our struggles, no matter what the outcome or form they take - i.e., improved circumstances or not - or what causes them to occur - i.e., my poor choices or another's - because, when we trust Him, they become the means of drawing us closer to God and our entering more fully into his love. For this, we all can (and should) be grateful. Otherwise, we will become angry and bitter and miss the primary good He seeks to bring about in and through us.
- How do we advance in pain? Click here
- How do we discover God's love in our pain? click here
- For a further discussion on the primary role of pain, click here
- For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good, click here...and here.
- The greater the
evil, the greater the opportunity for healing/grace; click here. - For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.
- For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.
- For a discussion on the necessity of humility, click here
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Footnotes:
¹When you contemplate any losses you have experienced or are currently going through, what do you feel? Desperation, sadness, anger, humility? If anger, you have yet to fully trust God. Ask Him to reveal His love to you, so you can let go of it.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:35-39 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.8.35-39.ESV
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Grace to you
Jim Deal