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
#4016
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