One of the biggest fears that people have is that they will screw up horribly and cause serious damage for the rest of their life. Yes, it is true that every action that we make has a consequence, whether it is good or bad. The good news is that we have a God who is redemptive and who can and will turn even the worst situations for his own good.
You might wonder, “well, this horrible thing happened to me when I was young and it can not possibly have any good, so how can you say that?”, and I agree, there are some pretty horrible things that happen to us. With that being said, I am going to use scripture from the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both stories show the characters as being remorseful for what they have done, however, God had bigger plans.
The broader spectrum is that even though we have our faults and we have made some pretty big mistakes, sometimes we need to step back and see what happens after that mistake. So lets look at these examples and talk about what is happening…
Read 2 Samuel 11
I want to start by saying that this is another story that I try not to use because I have the feeling that David is pretty tired of getting beat up over this story! He probably has been saying “I get caught up in the moment once, and look what everyone remembers!”
So what have we seen in reference to things going wrong? I can count at least five, which are adultery, conspiracy, murder, lying and marrying the man’s wife after his death. To making matters worse, David is told that the baby will die within a week of birth. Even though he fasts and tries to bargain with God, the baby does die on the seventh day. So with everything going wrong, there is one thing that goes well.
2 Samuel 12: 24&25
Even though this is a baby that was created at the expense of another man and at the expense of a newborn child, Solomon will become one of most revered characters in Jewish culture. He is wise, powerful, and responsible for some of the writings in the Old Testament. Never mind the fact that he did a lot of evil things, he is responsible for quite a few great things.
The reason why I am saying this is that often times we see all the negativity in a situation and it often times can deter us from seeing the good. If we were to look at all the horrible things that led up to him becoming the King of Israel and then look at all the negative things that happened while he was the King, then we would completely miss the wisdom and the leadership that he contributed to our culture.
To give you an idea, I am not quite sure that I was supposed to join the Navy. I honestly have wondered if I went against God when I decided to join because my time on active duty was not pleasant for the most part. Granted life is not always pleasant, but it all felt wrong. Initially my application was rejected due to medical reasons, and then that got excused and I decided to go ahead and join. I have spent time wondering if that initial denial was meant for me to not join and to find some other way to get to seminary. I joined in June 2005 and went away to boot camp. At training school I request orders to get sent over to Europe or elsewhere over seas. I figured that I would try and do that while I could and have fun with my time in the Navy. Instead, I got sent to Norfolk and was put behind a desk. During that time, I sometimes wondered what exactly I was doing there. I had quite a few bosses and coworkers that treated me horribly and I felt that I was at times wasting my life.
Eventually it dawned on me that it was not always about me and my comfort. Yes, there were a lot of things happening that I did not like, but because of my discomfort I was able to bless other people. Some people told me about how my life had helped restore faith in them whether it was my endurance, my character or my concern for them. I also began looking at the other details of my life outside of work. I was starting to go to school again, I was getting involved with a church, and my spiritual life was stronger than ever. That is when I began to realize that God can salvage damaged situations.
*Read Matthew 26:14-16, 27:3-5
Again, here is a situation that something absolutely horrible happened. Judas betrays Jesus for 30 silver coins, and then feels remorseful for it. Matthew and Luke (Acts, which is written by Luke) have different accounts of what happened, but it is quite evident that he killed himself. The average person that does not know anything about this story probably wonders “What good can come out of any of this? Two people have died and greed prevailed. I think we all know the answer to this question as well. Salvation. If Judas would not have turned Jesus in, then how would the prophecies of the Old Testament have been satisfied? It would have probably happened some way or some how, but it still would have resulted in a necessary evil to set the sacrifice in motion. It is because of that perfect sacrifice that we are now called sons and daughters of God.
Again, I am sure that we can look back into our lives and think of a time in which someone wronged us in a way that we will never forget. Now what I would like you to do is think about that time, and think about how it played into the next stage of our life. For me, I am going to recall a time in which I was denied ministry opportunities. When I was attending this church, I decided that I wanted to get involved and help out. Everything seemed to be going well, until two pastors told me that either I was not cut out for the ministry or they changed their tune when I tried to pursue a higher degree.
Yes, that was a disheartening moment for me, but I needed it. That gave me a stronger resolve to be a healthy leader and to work towards being a better class of Christian leader. I do not think it is arrogant to say that, but I realized after being a Christian for 9 years at that point that I did not have many positive Christian influences. That was the point that I broke and said that I was going to seminary and that I was going to pursue the calling that I had found.
In closing, I want you to look at how the plains Indians treated the body of a killed buffalo. They were not like the white men who just shot them and left them to rot, instead, they had a use for everything. They would take the skins and use it for clothes and tents. They would take the meat, and eat it. They would use the fat for oil and other various purposes. They used the various body parts for different tools and necessities. The fact was that they were resourceful. That is no different than God. So when you look back on your life, remember that degree that you think was useless? How is it tying into the big picture now? Or how about that bad relationship? How much more respect do you have for the person you are with, or who you will have in the future? Or how about that time in which you thought you lost everything, but you found that God was there helping you through? These are just a few things that go on in the big picture, but I want you to know that God does not waste, and that we must look for the good that he is doing in our lives.
