"But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." Genesis 50:20 (NKJV)
What the enemy meant for evil, God can turn into good. What feels like it is against you is not the final word. Hell is not in charge. The devil is not in charge. God is in charge. And He is for you. When you love Him and walk with Him, He takes the very things that oppose you and works them into something that will bless you.
If God allowed you to remove the painful chapters of your life, the nights you cried until you had no strength left, if He let you erase all of that, you would not be who you are today. You would lose the strength, compassion, and perseverance that came from those battles. There is a blessing tied up in what felt against you. God already visited that place. He knew what was there. He has walked where you are walking now. And He knows how to bring you through it.
This is why Jesus could even look at Judas, the man who betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver, and kiss him and call him friend. Judas was not working for Him, but God was working through that moment. That betrayal fulfilled prophecy. It moved Jesus toward His purpose. Even betrayal is not wasted when you belong to the Lord.
It is a hard truth, but sometimes you have to kiss the thing you wish never happened and call it friend. No one chooses sickness or loss or heartbreak. But if it comes, and if God allows it, then there is something in it that He will use for your good. You may not understand it. You may pray with all your heart for healing and restoration, and that is a good prayer. But the highest place of faith is when you can say live or die, succeed or struggle, I want Jesus to be glorified in my life.
You begin to realize that your world is not held together by a house or a car or a bank account. Those things fade. They do not follow you into eternity. You are only a steward of them while you have them. But when you have Jesus, you have the one treasure that cannot be taken. To live is Christ. To die is gain.
When everything seems against you, God is still for you.
And if God is for you, nothing that rises against you can stop His purpose in your life.
Prayer: Lord, help me trust You with the chapters I would never have chosen. Show me the treasure in the hard places. Let every trial shape me into Your likeness. I give You my fears, my pain, and every moment that feels against me. Work it for good and help me glorify You in all things. Amen.
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