Bad Things Don't Stay Bad things!

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Bad things happen to good people. It’s not that bad things don’t happen to bad people too. It’s just that the bad things, for good people, don’t stay bad things. And I really shouldn’t be saying good people here, I’m really talking about God lovers and the called when I refer to “good” people. That’s different from morally aware people who stick a feather in their cap and put another notch in their belt expecting it to count toward something significant. Basically, a pharisee. That’s not who I’m talking about here. I’m talking about God’s people, the real remnant who truly know and love Him, who are called according to His purpose. So, for these people, the bad things turn into good things, or things that God can turn around and use for His purposes and for your benefit and ultimately, His glorification. 

It says in Matthew 5:45 that “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” 

Ok, so the good times and the bad times come to both types of people here. God is indiscriminate here because He loves His entire creation. Maybe in His Grace, he is drawing the evildoers to Himself and wooing them toward repentance. It’s His kindness that draws us to repentance. What about the bad times, though? The evil curse God or whatever they perceive to be the origin of their woe. The righteous go on praising God through it, knowing from where their salvation comes. Righteousness is Christ centered. Wickedness is self centered. 

Testimonies are powerful! So every Christian I know has a point or points along the way that he or she can point to that were undoubtedly bad times. But the beautiful thing about it is how God used that very thing to bring victory to their lives. He generally doesn’t just erase these things and give us a Men in Black flashy stick memory wipe, although He could. He chooses to strengthen us and glorify Himself through these things. The bad things don’t stay bad things for us! They are used as building blocks for our lives and when we look back to those points and follow the thread of the faithfulness of God to see us through, we can’t help but praise Him. And the foundation for our lives becomes a strong one as the house is built. 

My house burned down when I was just eight years old. We lost everything. I grew up looking through photo albums that were smoke damaged and singed around the edges. Those photo albums were the only thing we were able to salvage and we only kept them because they were precious to us, not because they were in good condition. I was saved when I was five and filled with the Holy Spirit when I was seven, but what really anchored me to the reality of God’s love for me was an example of a Godly man that I’ll never forget. In the wake of our sudden homelessness, our Pastor took in our entire family to live in their house with them. We were with them for what I recall to be about a year while my father was building our new home. To an eight year old, this was epic! This entire rescue operation was heaven coming down to meet me. I was transfixed on this man of God, just watching him for that entire year. I believe it was the first time I felt the call to ministry. I just wanted to be like this guy that rescued my family. I knew that after this experience, I was never ever ever going to leave the faith, the God of the Bible. God proved to me that He loved me through this incredible hardship. He worked this thing in my life for good. The good was the anchoring of my faith in Him and His love for me. As if that’s not enough to be thankful for, so much more good came out of this tragedy than I’ve listed. The bad didn’t stay bad! 

Are you His? Are you called according to His purpose? Do you love Him? Don’t worry about the stuff coming at you. It will prove to be useful in your life or even someone else’s life. Did you know that the stuff you’re going through isn’t just for you? Maybe someone will benefit from watching you go through a trial with a Godly attitude. By just being observed, you may change a person’s life. Let’s hope so, right! I mean, that’s a goal, be a witness. Praise God! Look, I’m not making light of the difficulty of the thing you may be dealing with. Ultimately, we have to trust God and understand that His ways are higher than our ways. And thank God for that because that means that He knows things we don’t know. And because we don’t know, it creates a perfect atmosphere of dependency on Him. May we always be dependent on Him. 

God bless! 

Jason Davidson