A Good Thing is Coming

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a bad thing and wondered how God could ever make it good? Maybe a bad test grade left you wondering how you were going to pass your class. Maybe a bad break up left you wondering how you could ever find a husband. A lost job made you wonder how you could find your purpose. 

Growing up I experienced a lot of what you would look at as “bad” in a child's life. In a dark home full of brokenness, anxiety, and fear I used to cry out to Jesus as a little girl hoping he would make my bad thing good. I felt unheard, unseen, unworthy, and forgotten. How could God be good if life felt so bad. How could light exist in a world so dark. I thought that God could never use me, there was no way he actually listened to me, in my eyes I brought problems everywhere I went and left disappointment in every room I filled. When your reality seems so bad there's hardly a glimmer of hope in you that it could ever become good. 

And then one day it did. Through people, opportunity, and miracles, God made a way for me. Not only did he pull me out of a pit, but he set me on a rock. Not only did he set my feet on a rock, but he gave more blessings than I could ever ask for. He broke chains off of my life, healed wounds, and breathed life into my discouraged heart. Today I stand in the good thing that was once bad but I still remember those moments like they were yesterday as gratitude fills my soul for the places God brought me from. 

I can’t think of a more trying moment than to sit at the foot of the cross as Jesus took his last breath and wonder how God could make such a bad thing good. The man you put your hope in, left your family for, promised you life, dead. I can’t imagine the questions that arose. I wonder if faith was built believing in the prophecy spoken or if faith was torn down doubting that he was a man of his word. The discouragement that Friday brought to the lives of so many must have weighed them down in unimaginable ways. 

Then I think of the next day. To wake up on Saturday and realize that the heartbreak wasn’t a dream. The brokenness was still present and the one who changed your life wasn’t. Maybe you can remember finding yourself in a place hoping Jesus would show up only to wake up another day with nothing different. I wonder if it felt like death was final. What in your life feels final? I can’t imagine a day that felt as dark as that one did. Morning goes by, no sign of life. Noonday goes by, no sign of life. Evening goes by, no sign of life. And before you know it, it’s morning again and there is still no sign of life. 

I imagine the women, still grieving because grief has no timeline, walking to the tomb. Reminiscing on the life of Jesus, the miracles he performed, and thinking to themselves how could a good God let such a bad thing happen? How could a man that was truly blameless be the one that was beaten, broken, and speared. It just wasn’t fair. Could God really make a bad thing good? Because this was as bad as bad could get. Could God really be good if he let such a bad thing happen?

As they approached the tomb and turned a corner they saw the body of Jesus gone! Like an item you know full well you put in its place, gone. As they wait and wonder, an angel appears and says, “don’t be afraid, he is not here, he is Risen!”  Risen? Jesus? And as news spread people came running. Full of anxiousness and hope they ran to what they would hope to be an answer to the absence of Jesus. And then like a flash of light, a bad thing became a good thing when Jesus was as present with them as a friend standing in front of you. Jesus in the flesh having conquered death. The most life changing event in history. 

So can God make a bad thing a good thing? Absolutely! And let today stand as evidence of that. We call Good Friday what it is not because the event was pleasant but because we live with the victory of Sunday in mind. My friend Grace says, “a bad thing can become a good thing when we make it a God thing.” What “bad thing” in your life just needs to become a “God thing” so that it can then be a “good thing.” God has immeasurably more than you could think or imagine planned for your life. It will not end badly. Philippians 1:6 says that “he who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion.” The story doesn’t end on Good Friday. How can God make a bad thing a good thing? After all, death on this Friday was made good on Sunday. Good Friday was the good work God began. Resurrection Sunday is the day that he brought it to completion!

As Jesus was resurrected that same opportunity became available for you. From death to life, not just today but for forever! As Jesus left the helper of the Holy Spirit behind with, now your bad thing can become a good thing. Your good thing is coming!