Many Times in life we may feel like everything is crumbling in around us, pain from the loss of a loved one, bad news from the doctor, financial woes, and relationship heartaches, just to name a few. You may even feel you are at the end of your rope and that God has forgotten you. I want to encourage you with a few Promises in God’s Word that have always blessed me in these times. If you are His child and living according to His will, then no matter how bad something is, no matter how far gone something seems, the God you serve will always turn it around for His glory and your good even if it doesn’t go as you had planned – which in most cases it will not. I have always found great comfort in Romans 8:28. I know that No matter how bad life gets, or how terrible Satan’s attacks are, somehow I will always rise up out of it, and will be stronger and more blessed when I have come through it. In this verse, God says, “all things” (that includes the bad things) will work for good. Rom 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.

Joseph, a perfect example, seemed to have everything going for him as a young man, but Satan hates God’s children and will constantly seek to destroy them. Circumstances in Joseph’s life caused him to be betrayed by his own brothers, and sold into slavery. He ended up a slave in a very powerful man’s house and – as far as slavery went – things seemed to be getting better in his new life for a brief time, but Satan will never let you have a moment’s peace if he can help it. Joseph was falsely accused and punished for improper conduct toward his master’s wife. While Joseph sat year after year in prison, Satan probably shrilled with laughter and hoped Joseph would blame and curse God for his circumstances. Joseph may have never dreamed that his life would have turned out this way. He could have got discouraged and given up, but even in prison he still held to his faith in God and glorified His name. The thing we need to remember about Joseph is that each catastrophe and crippling blow that the devil dealt him wasn’t destroying him, but was only bringing him closer and closer to God’s plan for his life. At God’s appointed time, Joseph came out of prison and ended up becoming the most powerful man on earth. He was blessed beyond anything he could have even imagined. Satan’s plan to destroy him had backfired. Everything Satan used to destroy him only served as a stepping stone to a greater blessing.

No doubt, Joseph prayed and pleaded with God many times to fix his situation and send him back home, but seeing the end result of God’s work in his life I’m certain Joseph wouldn’t have changed a thing. All the hurt, pain, and confusion he had endured melted away when he looked out across all Egypt with his loving family and realized the blessings were too great to number. I can surely relate to this. I think how many times I have prayed and pleaded with God to fix a situation that I thought was going to take me out, and even gave God my suggestions on how I would like the outcome to be. But God always has better blessings planned for us than we do for ourselves. It’s for this reason he don’t always answer all our prayers and I can honestly say, “thank you Lord” for not answering some of my confused and painful prayers. – right.

Gen 50:19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

I can promise that God can take even the worse situations and turn them around. In his perfect timing he will rebuke the devourer and turn the tables on the enemy. If you are his child and living according to his Word, All of Hell can’t stop the blessings of God. When it’s all said and done, that thing that hurt you the most and that you begged God to remove could end up being one of the many steps to this place of great favor and blessings. I can honestly say, many times in my own life I have thought, “If that bad thing hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have what I have or be where I am now”.

In conclusion, take comfort in knowing, that even though you may not understand why you are going through your situation, and you may not see how God can even fix it. Know this for a fact; God is ALWAYS moving you toward your greatest blessing. I like the words to an old song I remember years ago, “Satan doesn’t have a lock that God doesn’t have the Key.”

Pastor: Tracy Davidson