“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Genesis 50:20
God always exploits Satan’s evil intentions and uses them in His own
service — just one more example of God’s ability to work “out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).
Satan intends the rain that ruins a church picnic to cause Christians to grumble against their Lord; God uses the rain to develop their patience. Satan plans to hinder the work of an effective missionary by arranging for him to trip in the jungle and break a leg; God allows the accident so that the missionary’s godly response to pain and discomfort will bring glory to Himself. Satan brews a hurricane to kill thousands in a small village in Bangladesh; God uses the storm to display His awesome power, to show people the awful consequences that sin has brought to the world, to drive some to search for Him, to harden others in their sin, and to remind us that He is free to do as He pleases. We will never figure Him out.
Satan schemed that a seventeen-year-old girl named Joni would break her neck, hoping to ruin her life; God sent the broken neck in answer to her prayer for a closer walk with Him.
As a friend once said, “God sends things, but Satan often brings them. Praise God that when Satan causes calamity, we can answer him with the words that Joseph answered his brothers with when they sold him into slavery, ‘You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.'”
Sovereign Lord, You are all-wise and powerful, able to abort devilish schemes always to serve Your own ends and purposes. Suffering is a mystery but not so much a mystery that I cannot trust You.
Blessings,
Joni and Friends
