The Best of Things, the Worst of Things

    In the mystery of God’s eternal purposes, the very worst thing that ever happened is also the very best thing that ever happened.

     “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:22-23).

     Did the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ occur as the determination of God?  Or was it the sad expression of the wickedness of man?  The answer is yes to both questions.  Our Savior’s suffering revealed the truth of both Divine righteousness and human sin.  Apart from Calvary, no possibility of salvation exists for humanity – “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).  However, Calvary also constitutes the greatest evil and crime ever committed, namely, the murder of the Creator by the “wicked hands” of the created.  Thus, the best thing, our hope of eternal salvation, exists concurrently with the worst thing, the extent of evil sinfulness.

    Apply this truth to everything in life.  If God can use the worst thing that ever happened to make available the best thing that will ever happen, He can surely fulfill the great promise of Romans 8:28:

     “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

     All calamities pale in comparison to the cross of our Lord Jesus.  Indeed, if God can constitute this worst thing as the best thing, He can certainly weave all other losses, sorrows, and pains into His “together for good” assurance.  We may not understand how He can possibly do so, but it is not necessary that we understand.  We need only believe that He can do so.  We trust Him in remembrance of Calvary’s blessed light shining forth from the horror of its darkness.  In God’s purposes, the best thing and the worst thing are one and the same.  Thus, the believer can peer into every black night in the confidence that somehow, some way our Heavenly Father’s glory exists and illuminates…

“The light shineth in darkness.”

(John 1:5)