“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” Genesis 50:20 NLT
Like many other people who aren’t football fans, I heard the news of Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin’s unfortunate hit to the chest and his subsequent cardiac arrest that followed after the fact. And while perusing social media yesterday, I was struck at what my longtime friend Tom Rogers said about it, “Listened to a sports talk show where one of the panel members described his feelings of isolation and confusion during the first few hours of the Damar Hamlin situation. He said while everyone was praying and petitioning The Lord, he was left with nothing to do. He talked about his life without God and how that moment made him sad that so many had faith and all he had was guessing. Tragic events are the last thing we want to endure, but God uses them to unify the believers and raise conversations with non-believers. God makes things out of messes.” Indeed He does! Not only are people all over the world publicly praying for this young man, the tragedy even prompting newscasters to pray on live TV, but Hamlin’s toy drive charity has received over $6,000,000 in donations.
And you know, when it comes to God using tragic events to unify believers and to inspire the lost to seek Him in a way that nothing else can, the Bible gives us countless stories of the way God has worked tragedies to “save the lives of many people” as He did in the life of Joseph, the son of Jacob. After being hated by his brothers, left for dead, and sold into slavery, the Lord arranged for Joseph to be in a position to save all of Egypt from a devastating famine. Joseph was able to forgive his brothers for what they had done because he recognized that sovereign goodness overrides all misfortune saying, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.”
So as we continue to pray for Damar and his family, let us fervently pray that all those who were left ‘guessing’ would seek to know the One who provided peace to all believers during a time that brought confusion and isolation to those who had yet to make the decision to follow Jesus. And let us hold tightly to the confidence that God always brings good things out of bad situations.
Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding us that You are sovereign over all and that You are always good. Thank You for being the Provider of peace in the midst of chaos. May others see the unity of believers and that peace within us so they would be inspired to seek You because of it. It’s in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.
Happy Running!
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