Can anything good come from this?
Seems I’m mulling that question over more than usual lately. Maybe you are too. Sometimes I’m asking in a seeking-an-answer kind of way. Other times it’s more of a throw-my-hands in the air kind of way. Because each day brings another heaping load of frustrating, discouraging circumstances.
People clashing, voices shouting, separation building instead of the coming together we long for after the last round of reality. In all the mess, I really want to know from God. What’s the plan? I know you can work all this together for good, but I just don’t see it.
It’s true that right now, things look pretty bleak any way we turn. And it’s also true that the worse things get, the more overwhelmed we feel. Because problems seem to grow and grow, without any restoration in sight.
So what do we do when that question plays on repeat, “Can anything good come from this?” How do we keep a hope-filled heart in times of such turmoil? We remember the truth.
There will be good. We can count on it.
“So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.” Acts 16:24 NLT
Paul and Silas were thrown in prison. They cast a demon out of a fortune-teller, and her boss had them arrested since it affected his income.
The guard locked them in and stood watch. He alone would be held responsible if the prisoners escaped. Not that it would even be possible, considering their surroundings.
But God performed a miracle and opened the doors of the jail, allowing Paul and Silas the opportunity to escape unharmed.
Paul and Silas could have gotten sidetracked with the miracle that day. God freed them! As preachers of the gospel message, they could’ve left the prison behind without giving it another thought.
But their hearts drew them to the one. The one least likely to seek forgiveness. The one who’d put them in chains in the first place. Jesus had a plan, and his plan always focuses on the ONE.
“The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas...Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:29-30
Paul stopped the jailer from taking his own life, so he took Paul and Silas to his home, cared for them, and gave them a meal. He and everyone in his household were saved and baptized right then.
I can imagine how the church felt that day, with Paul and Silas in chains. Helpless. In despair. Frustrated over circumstances beyond their control. Wondering if anything good could come from this. And with overflowing mercy and grace, God answered.
Because with God, something good will always come of it. We can count on it.
So when hopelessness sets in and we struggle to see how things could possibly work out, we can rest in the truth the jailer discovered. We are Jesus’ plan. We are his focus. No miracle is too great when it comes to drawing our hearts to him.
Blessings,
Kristine