nothing is yet in its true form

Have you ever noticed how things in life work out? For instance, let me perform a little test on you. First, I would like you to think about the worst thing that ever happened to you. Now think of the second worst thing that ever happened you to. Now the third. Now the fourth. The fifth. The sixth. The seventh. The eighth. The ninth. The tenth. Are you still with me? Now I want you to think of the best thing that ever happened to you. Now the second. Now the third. Now the fourth. The fifth. The sixth. The seventh. Chances are you’re catching on to what I’m talking about. I would guess that you probably had trouble around number four on the bad list, but you had no trouble coming up with items for your good list. But why is this?

I always hear people talking, writing, and generally complaining about the troubles of life, but I think we all celebrate and enjoy our lives regardless of this fact. Think about every time you have taken a breath without pain. Think about every night you have gone to sleep with a roof over your head (and I’m not talking about the nights you were camping when you didn’t want a roof). Think about the friends you’ve had who made you laugh. Clearly, we have something to be happy about. However, this does not change the fact that there are things in life that are hard, painful, and just generally not good.

Many authors and thinkers have discussed the idea and problem of pain, suffering, and evil. Many people have written about why evil exists or even how evil is compatible with the existence of good God, but that is not what concerns me at this point. Rather, I want to discuss a specific aspect of the bad stuff, that I have seen play out in my own life.

Have you ever noticed how so much of the time good things occur out of seemingly bad situations? I keep seeing this idea play out repeatedly in my own life. So many times, I feel like everything in my life is falling apart, but somehow the pieces are put back together again. I could give you hundreds of examples from my own life for the purpose of proving to you that what I am saying is true, but I don’t think that is necessary. You can probably think of countless times in your own life where bad events lead to a great (but possibly more remote) good. I would suggest to you that we witness this phenomenon because it is a direct reflection of the nature of God.

Many times in the Bible, we see God take an apparently bad situation and use it for something amazing. For instance, in the book of Daniel we witness Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace as punishment for refusing to worship the Babylonian king’s idol. God however, uses this obviously negative situation to reveal His glory to King Nebuchadnezzar. In the book of John, Jesus passes by a blind man and his disciples ask Him whether it was the man’s sin or his parent’s sin that had caused him to be born blind. Jesus answers that the man’s blindness was not a result of someone’s sin, but rather he was born in such a state so that God’s glory would be revealed through him. In both these situation God transforms bad into good.

I would suggest that this is exactly what God has done at the cross. Arguably man’s worst crime would be to kill God when God came down to reveal His love for the world, but what does God do with this crime? At the cross God takes away the sin of the world that they might be put back into a right relationship with Him. This strategy is clearly not what we would call normal, and it is certainly not the strategy I would employ if I was God. Nonetheless, our God is the Great Ironist. He uses bad to make good, and out of darkness He brings forth His light. I don’t know how this works, but I know that it does.