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Bad to Good

I love how God takes a bad thing and uses it for good.

This morning I was reminded of this when reading  in Judges 6 the Lord's instruction to Gideon to use the wood from the Asherah pole he just cut down to burn an offering to the Lord.  The pole, used to worship the goddess Asherah, was converted to offer the Lord worship and bring him glory.

This should remind us of the Lord's saving and redemptive work in our lives.  On a large scale, God took our lives broken by sin (a bad thing) and saved and redeemed us through Christ in order to honor and worship him (a good thing).

But even in our day-to-day lives we should be conscious of the redemptive potential in every situation. Pastor Matt Chandler says we should look for shadows of the Gospel in our daily lives.

Here's a question: If the Lord is in the business of taking bad and using it for good, then what's my part?

Maybe it's praying for a situation, or offering forgiveness, or showing kindness, or taking a risk on someone or something, or obeying that prompting from God, or spending more time with family, etc.

Whatever it is let's participate in God's work of taking bad and using it for good.

"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)  Joseph to his brothers after they sold him into Egyptian slavery.