THANK GOD FOR THOSE TERRIBLE TIMES (A Bedtime Bible Chat lesson)

By: Linda Kirby/WGON

As we learned last time, this chapter is sorta’ an overview of Israel’s history. We are at the section, Ps. 105: 16-22, that speaks on Joseph’s plight that his brothers meant for evil but God meant for good. Since I’m not allowed to teach theology or doctrine, I’d like to use this section to show how God uses evil.

We wonder why evil is allowed in this world. Well, we know that if everything is running great, or is a bed of roses, we would have no need to come to Jesus. Things are good. It’s only when things are bad, and depending on how hard headed one is, only when things are really really bad, that we go running to Jesus. Since the fall, this world has been living under the curse. The sin nature is here to stay until the King returns. So, just as God did for Joseph, he used evil for good to save the many, God is using the evil of today for good to save the many.

During the last 2 yrs., many people have come to know Jesus. They have given their hearts to Jesus. Why? Perhaps things got really bad in their lives, maybe illness that was about to take a loved one or themselves. Or the lost jobs and finances. This brought them to their knees. Just as Joseph’s brothers, who threw him into a pit to die, were brought to their knees because of terrible times, the drought. Yet, God used Joseph’s brother’s evil to save the many during the 7 year drought and famine.

I know it sounds ridiculous to say we should thank God for that terrible time that brought us to our knees but think of it this way, if not for that terrible time, you might have never come to the cross and when you died, you would spend eternity in hell. So, that terrible time you went through was actually a blessing that literally saved your life.

That’s our lesson, thank God for those terrible times. Tell others about how terrible things were but how God used it for good. It will encourage them, it might even bring someone to Christ, it will give a broken person new strength and strengthen his faith. We always look at the bad times as bad times, right? That’s because we are pessimists. Be an optimist and look at the glass half full. When you do that, you will see the purpose for those bad times. You will then go into other bad times with a new found strength asking yourself, what is God telling me here. I have missed something big and God is showing it to me this way. That’s hard to do when you are in the mist of a crisis of some kind. It’s just as hard to get control of your thoughts during a crisis as it is to get control of a car sliding on an icy road. It can be done, but it requires complete focus NOT on the ice, but on the direction you are moving.

Today we celebrate the 246th birthday of a great nation. An experiment of nations. One that is a republic, unlike other countries. Ben Franklin once said after the republic was formed to answer a question, “do we have a monarchy or republic”, he answered “A republic . . . if you can keep it.” We have fought to keep this republic a pure one but the evil ones try so hard to bring her down with socialists ideology, which leads to pure communism. Yet, she has remained true to our forefathers’ vision, for the most part--. We still live in a country that is the most free country, with the most opportunity of all countries. However, she has seen some very terrible times. She’s in the midst of another terrible time but each time, people came to Christ in droves. She came out of those terrible times stronger, as did the new Christians it produced. They too, came out of the terrible times stronger. We celebrate our country’s birthday, today, while she is in a downward spiral. Perhaps she won’t recover this time, perhaps she will, but one thing will happen, God will use these terrible times to save the many.