THE JADE CARVER

A Chinese jade carver finds a  priceless piece of jade -- with a major flaw. He could try to hide the flaw. Instead he carefully studies the jade and its flaw and plans an exquisite carving, making the defect the central part of a perfect design.

God did this for Joseph’s brothers in Genesis. In bitter hatred they sold their brother into a life of slavery in a distant land. They almost caused their father’s death by lying about it. Through much suffering God made them willing to repent. But He did more. He used their sinful failure to save multitudes of people, including themselves, from death through famine. He took the blackest fragment from their lives and made it central in a beautiful picture of salvation for themselves, for Joseph, and for their entire family.

This is also what God did at Calvary. He took man’s greatest failure, his most shameful atrocity -- killing the Son of God -- and made it central in a perfect picture of salvation, available to all people for all time. He can do this today with the black events of your past. He’s not pleased when we waste our lives by endlessly focusing on our terrible backgrounds, our wounds, our handicaps, or our sins and failures. He wants you to rely on Him to forgive, to overrule, and to bring about beautiful results.

-- Warren and Ruth Myers in Discovering God’s Will: Experiencing Afresh How Good God Is


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