July 15
Bible Reading: Acts 8:1-3
Acts 8:1, “And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”
Time and time again, we find examples in the Bible where God shows Himself as being able to bring good out of bad. The cross of Jesus stands as the preeminent example, as he triumphed over sin and death through his death. The same dynamic is at work in the believer’s life, for God is able to cause all things (including things we would deem “bad”) to work together for good (Romans 8:28).
Saul hated Christians. He did all he could to destroy the church and was even going house-to-house, dragging away men and women. But when those believers fled Jerusalem to escape persecution, they took the message of the gospel with them. Instead of hindering the growth of the church, the persecution had the opposite effect, spreading the outreach of the church into previously unreached regions.
John Piper has commented on this: “God rules over the sufferings of the church and causes them to spread spiritual power and the joy of faith in a lost world. It is not his only way. But it does seem to be a frequent way. God spurs the church into missionary service by the suffering she endures.”
We all face troubles of various kinds, but it’s good to remember that God is sovereign over the affairs of our lives. God is great at turning our troubles into triumphs. Our part is to trust Him, as we look for the good He will bring out of our bad.
God has no trouble turning our troubles into triumphs!
SO SEND I YOU
So send I you to labor unrewarded
To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing
So send I you to toil for Me alone
So send I you to bind the bruised and broken
Over wandering souls to work, to weep, to wake
To bear the burdens of a world a-weary
So send I you to suffer for My sake
So send I you to loneliness and longing
With hart a-hungering for the loved and known
Forsaking kin and kindred, friend and dear one
So send I you to know My love alone
So send I you to leave your life’s ambition
To die to dear desire, self-will resign
To labor long, and love where men revile you
So send I you to lose you life in Mine
So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred
To eyes made blind because they will not see
To spend, though it be blood to spend and spare not
So send I you to taste of Calvary
“As the Father hath sent me, so send I you”
LookingtoJesus 