Scripture shows that God loves to take things that are broken and make them new. He loves to take people who are in pain and give them freedom and hope. He also loves to use our pain and brokenness for his kingdom and his glory. An example will help. Joseph had a good life. One of Jacob’s twelve sons, Joseph was his father’s favorite child. He was given the best food, the best clothes, and given a place of honor among his brothers (Gen 37:11). Because of this, his brothers sold him into slavery (Gen 37:25-28) where he was accused of adultery (Gen 39:6-19) and then thrown into prison and forgotten about (Gen 39:20-40:23). Talk about emotional pain. God, however, had a bigger plan and gave Joseph a dream about a future famine and the way to protect Egypt from its devastating effects. God therefore brought Joseph to prominence, making him the second most powerful man in the world’s largest superpower, Egypt (Gen 41:37-45). When the small nation of Israel needed grain to survive and not die out, they came to Egypt and their brother Joseph (though they did not know him at first) (Gen 42-47). Through Egypt’s hospitality, Israel received food and shelter and grew to a large number and from that number God chose to send his son Jesus to be the cure to all the pain the world has ever known. “For our sake,” the Bible says, “[God the Father] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). Pain, therefore, can have a good outcome.
