In the devotional book Voices of the Faithful, a missionary couple in South America tells of a local pastor in Uberaba who bought a van to transport people to church. To help make payments on the van, he removed the backseats and did delivery work through the week. But the van needed four new tires, and the pastor had no way of paying for them.

 

One night the van was stolen from the church property. Some of the church members tried to console their pastor by saying that perhaps it wasn’t God’s will for him to have the van. But he knew he needed the vehicle for God’s work, so he trusted the Lord to work it all for good.

 

A few days later police officers from a nearby town called on him, saying the van had been located and the thief caught. Arriving at the police station, the pastor was surprised to find his vehicle sporting a new set of tires, new backseats, and a radio! He claimed the van but told the police that the tires, seats, and radio were not his. They must have been installed by the thief. “Well, I guess that is the thief’s loss and your gain,” replied the police officer. The pastor now has a good van, fully equipped and ready for ministry.

 

Many would say this was a bit of good luck or a pleasant coincidence? Winston Churchill once observed, “You never can tell how bad luck may after all turn out to be good luck.” But there’s no such thing as luck for the child of God, and Christians shouldn’t hope for good luck or bemoan when things go bad. Luck is a worthless word to the believer.

 

What we need is providence: God the Father, through the grace of God the Son and in answer to the prayers of God the Spirit, working all things for the good of those who love Him, in the process using the circumstances of life as arena in which to conform us to the image of Christ.

 

If things aren’t so great for you today, hang in there and trust God’s character/ promises. He just might be using those circumstances to create a blessing in you or around you that you just cannot yet see. God works for good to those who love Him.

 

In His Service,

Eric Barnes