A vibrant rainbow graces the sky after a nasty rainstorm … Daring buds burst out of hibernation after a long, lifeless winter … Soil is replenished and creatures return after a ravaging fire. Nature merely reflects the truth that God works good out of evil.
Romans 8:28 declares, “For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
One of my favorite examples is Joseph, a man who suffered many injustices for the purpose of God. His words to his offenders stand in history: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
So too, believers are to embrace hardship in full confidence and with joyful hope.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” – James 1:2-4
“We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” – Romans 5:2-5
What seems exacting and unfeeling is really loving and merciful.
“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? … For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.” – Hebrews 12:7, 10
We delight in our heavenly inheritance, the prize.
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 1:6-7
Through the brutal yet beautiful process … God is glorified, His people sanctified.
“For You, O God, have tested us; You have tried us as silver is tried … We went through fire and through water; yet You have brought us out to a place of abundance.” – Psalm 66:10, 12
“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.” – Isaiah 48:10
Our God is Master Craftsman of the soul.
“The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.” – Proverbs 17:3
Certainly, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
So when I face difficulty, who can I turn to but God?
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth.” – Job 19:25
