As Max Lucado concludes Chapter 1 of You’ll Get Through This, he states that God is the Master Weaver who “stretches the yarn and intertwines the colors, the ragged twine with the velvet string, the pains with pleasures.” God also is the Master Builder who will construct, or bring about, good from evil. Just as God redeemed the story of Joseph, He’ll redeem our story as well. Pastor Lucado then breaks down his opening statement into its component parts:
1. You’ll get through this. We all fear that we won’t- that our depression will never lift and our pain will never leave. We feel imprisoned, predestined for failure. In response, Max offers these encouraging words: “Deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras: bold, brassy, and everywhere.”
2. It won’t be painless. In this life God doesn’t guarantee an absence of struggle and the abundance of strength, but He pledges to reweave our pain for a greater purpose.
3. It won’t be quick. God may take His time. As Pastor Lucado notes: “His history is redeemed, not in minutes, but in lifetimes.”
4. But God will use your mess for good. Max observes that where we see a mess, God sees a chance to train, test, and teach. We think we’re in Egypt, but God calls it protective custody. We feel controlled by Satan’s tricks and ploys, God trips and foils Satan.
Today’s question: What most prevents you from turning over your ministry downsizing or vocation loss to Jesus? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Down, but not out”
