January 15 - Now What?

January 15

Now What Will I Do

Ge 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, … 

Do bad things happen to good people?  Yes, I am afraid that they do. Sometimes bad things happen because they are the consequences of making bad decisions. But other times it is because God is working for our benefit.  In the story of Joseph, his brothers hated him and sold him into slavery. He wound up in Egypt as a household servant. Falsely accused he was thrown in prison. The account in the last chapters of Genesis tell us he became an important government official and the same brothers who sold him into slavery came to buy food without knowing it was Joseph. Later he told them, our opening verse. You meant it for bad, but God meant it for good.

When my wife and I were attending a major state university we applied for scholarships.  The college rule was only one member of a family was allowed a scholarship and awarded it to me. My wife had to get a student loan. The middle of the first year a professor submitted an incomplete for a class I had taken. It should have been an A. The wheels in a large university move slowly and before I could get the grade corrected the incomplete grade was changed to an E and as a result I lost my scholarship. The college then awarded a scholarship to my wife. It was too late for me to get a student loan. Money was very tight and we struggled to come up with tuition money. God had always met our needs and we were perplexed why things had gotten so difficult.

The following year the grade was finally changed from an E to an A and the college reinstated my scholarship and refunded all the tuition I had paid.  The college left my wife on her scholarship because it was their mistake.  My wife and I immediately saw the hand of God working on our behalf.  In spite of the rules of a large University God had over ruled them. It was one of those “miracles” everyone needs to experience.

In Acts 16 Paul and Silas are unjustly beaten and thrown in prison. They had been faithful witnesses but God let them get beaten and thrown in an inner prison cell. Next they had their feet locked in stocks. I would have been either very sad or very angry. Sad because I thought God wasn't there for me or angry because my rights had been violated  “Hey somebody - I am innocent - get me my lawyer! - I’m going to sue”.  

But Paul and Silas did not feel awful. They sang praises to God at midnight. They sang with so much enthusiasm the other prisoners heard them. They were in prison, their feet were locked in stocks, their backs still smarted from the many strokes they had received.  And they sang.  Why weren’t they just complaining to one another about their bad circumstances, the bad things that had happened to them, the bad people who had mistreated them, and be worried about their dismal future?  They sang because they trusted God.  The magistrates wanted to punish them. But God used it for good. After the earthquake opened all the prison doors the jailor came to Paul and asked

Ac 16:30 ... Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

If singing in prison sounds crazy to you, it might be because you have not recognized when God has been there for you.  Have you ever asked him to help you in some difficulty? Or do you just jump up and try to overcome problems on your own? Perhaps you just sit and complain about circumstances, things or people and worry about your future.  

Warren Wiersbe’s book The Bumps are What You Climb On is especially useful for understanding that God sends difficulties into our lives to help us learn to trust Him more. The book title comes from a story of a young boy who was leading his sister up a rocky mountain path. She complained there were too many rocks in the path and he responded “Sure, the rocks are what you climb on”

Every difficulty in life is like a rock on the pathway.  You can become discouraged or you can use it to climb higher. What is your attitude when confronted with another problem?  Paul’s attitude was,

2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;…