One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Genesis (50:20): “And for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” Joseph’s brothers meant evil for him, but God turned the tables and used Joseph to save many people during the great famine in Egypt. In God’s sovereignty He also decreed to regulate and control the results of our sinful self-determined choice. So, while God permitted His free creatures to sin, He also purposed to overrule it and the evil that results from it.
God often works behind the scenes to bring blessings out of sin. For example, when we are falsely accused and persecuted by sinful man we read in Matthew (5:11): “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” God blesses us in many ways when we get persecuted for sharing Christ both in the present and in eternity future.
And without a doubt the most sinful act ever committed by man – the crucifixion of Christ – God brought about the best thing ever – the salvation of those who come to Christ! And even in the case of Job, Satan was allowed to inflict great evil on Job, and yet in the end God restored everything back to Job because Job was faithful.
We serve a great God in that even when we sin God loves to forgive us when we confess and repent and bring about wonderful blessings. And even when we sin and don’t confess and repent, God will often take us out to the spiritual woodshed, to teach us a lesson, in order to wake us up and help us realize we must confess and repent when we sin – and this to me is also a great blessing.
When we sin and don’t confess and repent we often lose our joy and peace, our prayers go unanswered, and our sweet fellowship with the Lord seems to vanish. So, God loves us so much that He wants to restore all of these things to us and thus He will use whatever means to wake us up so we can confess and repent and get back these precious blessings from the Lord. I, for one, am grateful for the times that God disciplines me, when I don’t confess and repent of my sins, so I can continue to receive his wonderful blessings!