How do you make sense of life?

…especially the painful, tragic, and hurting parts?

BUT GOD…

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

Genesis 50:15-20

• God is WILLING your GOOD.

Two Erroneous Views about God:

1. God is GOOD, but not POWERFUL.
2. God is POWERFUL, but not GOOD.

The Truth about God:

God is all GOOD and all POWERFUL.

It is confidence in the invariably overriding intention of God for our good, with respect to all the evil and suffering that may befall us on life’s journey, that secures us in peace and joy. We must be sure of that intention if we are to be free and able, like Joseph, to simply do what we know to be right.

- Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy

The whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the God of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty is eager to be friends with us.

- A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8

• God will not WASTE your PAIN.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Fatalism: Everything HAPPENS for a REASON.

Providence: No matter what HAPPENS, God can redeem it for GOOD.

When you place your deepest PAIN into God’s hands, He can turn it into your greatest PURPOSE.

• God will have the FINAL SAY.

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.

Acts 3:15

“The resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing.”

- Frederick Buechner

Because of who God is, not because of what we see, every fragment of our story will one day be made whole.