Turning Bad Into Good

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

–Acts 2.22-24, 32-33 (NIV)

1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

–Isaiah 43.1-3 (NIV)

If you have lived long enough, you surely have gone through dark valleys. Even those who are committed Christians know what it is like to feel keenly God’s absence, what St. John of the Cross referred to as “the dark night of the soul.” Moreover, we look around us and see all kinds of evil and injustices being committed. All this makes us wonder where God is in it all and what he’s doing about it. Why does God permit evil to continue and allow us to suffer?

I cannot answer these questions because God has not chosen to let the human race in on this joke. The Bible has precious little to say about why evil exists. It does not tell us, for example, why the serpent was allowed to be in the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve in the first place. What the Bible does tell us, however, in its overall narrative is what God has done and is doing about the problem of human sin and the evil that exists. In today’s passages we are reminded that God is always with us, even when we cannot sense it, and that he has the power to turn evil into good.

In the lesson from Acts, Peter reminds the crowd that God has turned unspeakable evil (the crucifixion of Jesus) into unspeakable good–Jesus’ Resurrection and the promise of New Creation it foretells as well as the promised outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on his people. Not only has he done that, Peter reminds us that Jesus’ crucifixion was in God’s eternal plan for the redemption of his world from the very beginning. In Jesus, God took upon himself the punishment for our rebelliousness and pattern of sin, a punishment that only we deserve, so that our exile from God could be ended forever. In short, God did the impossible for us. He did this because not only is God a holy and just God, he is also a loving God who created us to have life and relationship with him.

If God can turn the most wicked plans of humans into good for our sake, what can God not do for us?

And as God reminds his people Israel through his prophet, Isaiah, they are never alone, even in exile, even when the unthinkable has happened to them. Why? Because God is a faithful God who will not let even our persistent and willful rebellion cause our relationship with him to be ruptured forever. Let me be clear here. I am not arguing a universalist position. Scripture makes it very clear that not everyone will be saved from God’s wrath. But those who will not be saved cannot blame God because they will have chosen to walk away from a real and life-giving relationship with God. God is the Source and Author of all life and those who choose to walk away from that Source can only expect death. This is not God’s intention for us but God also loves us enough to allow us to choose whether we want to have a relationship with him, a relationship between creature and Creator, not of equals. Sadly not everyone will choose life and that is heartbreaking. But this is the nature of the freedom God gives us.

The point, however, remains the same. God loves us and promises to take care of us, even in the worst of situations. Listen to God’s gracious words spoken through the prophet that he calls us by name. This means that God remembers us, remembers our weaknesses and fears as well as our hopes and dreams. God reminds us that he created us and longs for us, and the context implies that God wants us to feel likewise about him. Does this not go right to the heart of our deepest needs as humans? Ignore it as we do, we cannot help but remember that we are mortal and our days our finite. There is something deep seated in each of us, again whether we admit it or not, that longs for something more than just the living of our days, that yearns for One greater than us to know us, to remember us, and to care about and for us. We find all those longings met in today’s passage from Isaiah.

From my own personal experience I can vouch for all this. When I have failed to believe that God is firmly in charge during the dark valleys of my life, I have been prone to fall into despair and hopelessness because I am confronted by my own inability to fix even the simplest of problems in my life, let alone the massive ones that can beset me. But when by God’s grace, I am convinced that God is with me during the dark times of my life and will turn the evil that besets me into good, it has made all the difference in the world. Sure, even when I am convinced that God is with me I still felt afraid at times. But when I have taken seriously God’s promise to never forsake or abandon me and believe that God is powerful enough to help me overcome the evil in my life and turn it into good, I have found real relief and comfort and have been empowered to overcome my fears. And I am not alone in this. I join with countless other Christians who have found the same grace.

If you are one who is currently walking through a dark valley, think deeply on these things because here is a remedy for the despair you may be feeling. The God of this vast universe loves you, created you, knows you better than yourself, and calls you by name. He promises to be with you (not take you out of) the darkest of valleys and help you overcome them because he never forgets you. How could he? You are his creation and precious in his sight. You’ve got to do your part but if you do, you can count on not having to do it on your own. You can count on the very Power and Presence of God to be with you and to turn the darkness into light.

How do you know this? Because God has become human and suffered and died for you so that you might live. He has poured out his Spirit on you and if you are willing to invite him in to live with you, you will find strength and hope and perseverance to meet any and every situation. If you have not already accepted God’s gracious offer to you to have life in him through Christ, what are you waiting for?