One of the greatest conundrums (apparent contradictions) in the believers life is how God transforms defeats into victories. I read this today in my quiet time ” Never be quick to judge whether something is a blessing or a curse”. I had to ponder that because the event or problem might not look like or feel like a blessing but in the end it might RESULT in blessing! Think about it! As you look back on your life how often has something really terrible been used in your life to either bring blessing to you or to others?

I always say, “God doesn’t waste our pain”. By that I mean, as painful as it might be at the time, God uses it in a marvelous way for blessing, perhaps in our life or in the lives of others. This is vividly illustrated in the life of the Apostle Paul.

He spent years in prison, in miserable conditions, kept from visiting other churches. How did God use it? To write his prison epistles that have blessed billions over the past 2000 years! What a loss if we didn’t have those letters from Paul! In addition, he suffered countless privations, beatings, stonings, thirst, hunger and every imaginable type of suffering. But God used all of it to encourage others who were suffering for the cause of Christ, both then and even now. Those letters have been blessed in the lives of martyrs over and over down through the centuries.

I think of some of my dear sisters in the body of Christ who have suffered abuse. It breaks my heart and breaks the heart of God. But Praise The Lord it doesn’t end there! So many that I have known have used their terrible experience to reach out to others and help them and expose sin.

But the greatest example I can think of is the cross. It appeared to be Satan’s greatest success and God’s greatest defeat. The Son of God crucified! That is, until 3 days later! He rose triumphant from the grave! Death defeated! Sin defeated! God vindicated! The church formed! Victory announced! The greatest victory in the history of the world was birthed out of what appeared to be the greatest defeat! Hallelujah!

So don’t be too quick to judge something in your life that appears to be a defeat. God is able to use it! To turn it into a victory, a blessing to you and to others! Don’t say “Why me?” when something happens to you that looks negative. Allow God to use it in your life for blessing to other people. You see, at the end of the day, God is the one who will assess whether or not it was a victory or a defeat. He will turn your setbacks into comebacks!

As the old hymn writer wrote, “By weakness and defeat, He won the mead and crown, trod all His foes beneath His feet by being trodden down”. Look up! God wants to use your pain to gain unimaginable victories in His Kingdom!

Terry