Can we really know whether to label life’s
circumstances as good or bad? For instance, your car breaks down right
before you are to take a family road trip. But when you take the car to the
shop, the mechanic says, “Good thing you didn’t take this out on the road. It
could have caught fire.” Is that bad because of the inconvenience, or good
because of God’s protection?
Or perhaps your child decides to pursue interests that aren’t all that
interesting to you. You wanted her to play basketball and run track in high
school. But she wanted to sing and play the oboe. You feel frustrated, but she
excels and ends up with a music scholarship. Is that bad because your dreams
weren’t fulfilled, or good because God directed her in ways you could not have
predicted?
Sometimes it’s hard to see how God is working. His mysteries don’t always
reveal their secrets to us, and our journey is often redirected by
uncontrollable detours. Perhaps God is showing us a better route.
To make sure we benefit from what might seem bad, we must recognize and trust
God’s “unfailing love” (Ps. 13(12):05 NIV). In the end, we’ll be able to say,
“I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me”. (Ps.13(12):06 NIV).
We may not be
able to control events,
but we can
control our attitude toward them. (RBC)
