When Our Worst Brings out God's Best

Have you ever watched a master chess player turn a seemingly catastrophic mistake into a winning strategy? Or perhaps you've seen a skilled artist incorporate an accidental paint spill into a masterpiece, transforming what should have been a ruined canvas into something even more beautiful than originally planned? These moments reveal something profound about mastery—the ability to incorporate even errors and obstacles into a greater design.

This principle operates infinitely more perfectly in God's providence. The ancient saying "God writes straight with crooked lines" captures a profound mystery: our sovereign Lord possesses such transcendent wisdom and power that He can incorporate even human rebellion and sin into His loving purposes, without Himself being tainted by evil or becoming its author.

 

The Scandal of Divine Providence

This truth initially strikes us as scandalous. How can a holy God, who "cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone" (James 1:13), work through the sinful actions of human beings? The answer lies not in God's participation in evil, but in His sovereign ability to redirect even the worst human intentions toward His good purposes.

Consider Joseph's profound theological insight when confronting his brothers who had sold him into slavery: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20). Notice the careful distinction—the brothers intended harm; God intended good. The same action, viewed from two different vantage points, reveals both human culpability and divine sovereignty. The brothers remain fully responsible for their sin, yet God's providence runs so deep that He had already incorporated their evil into His plan for preserving the chosen people during famine.

St. Augustine wrestled deeply with this mystery, ultimately concluding: "For the Almighty God... because He is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in His works if He were not so all-powerful and good that He can bring good even out of evil" (Enchiridion, Ch. 11). This isn't divine endorsement of evil, but rather a declaration of God's supreme sovereignty over it.

 

The Cross: Where Crooked Lines Become Gospel

Nowhere does this principle shine more brilliantly than at Calvary. The Apostle Peter, preaching at Pentecost, makes an astonishing claim: "This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross" (Acts 2:23). Here we see the ultimate paradox—the most heinous sin in human history, the murder of the innocent Son of God, was simultaneously the execution of God's eternal plan of salvation.

The early church reflected deeply on this mystery. In their prayer recorded in Acts 4:27-28, they acknowledged that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel had gathered against Jesus "to do what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen." Yet Scripture never absolves these actors of their guilt. Judas remains the betrayer, Pilate the coward, the religious leaders the conspirators. Their moral responsibility remains intact even as God's sovereign purpose unfolds through their actions.

St. John Chrysostom observed this divine artistry, noting how "God's wisdom is shown not only in doing good, but in drawing good out of the evil that others do" (Homilies on Matthew, 26.2). The cross becomes the supreme demonstration that no amount of human wickedness can ultimately frustrate God's loving purposes.

 

Historical Patterns of Providence

Scripture provides numerous examples of this principle. When Pharaoh hardened his heart against releasing the Israelites, God used that very obstinance to display His power through the plagues, ultimately leading to a more dramatic deliverance that would be remembered throughout all generations (Exodus 9:16, cited by Paul in Romans 9:17).

The Assyrian empire, in its brutal conquest, thought it was serving its own bloodthirsty ambitions. Yet Isaiah reveals God's perspective: "Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation... But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind" (Isaiah 10:5-7). The Assyrians remained fully culpable for their cruelty, yet God used their actions to discipline His wayward people and ultimately to purify a remnant.

Even the Babylonian exile, that catastrophic judgment upon Judah, became the crucible in which Jewish identity was refined and strengthened. During those seventy years of displacement, the synagogue system developed, the Scriptures were collected and preserved with renewed fervor, and the messianic hope burned brighter than ever. What Satan surely intended as the destruction of God's people became instead their preservation and preparation for the coming of Christ.

 

The Limits of Human Rebellion

The book of Proverbs declares, "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps" (Proverbs 16:9). This doesn't negate human responsibility or reduce us to puppets. Rather, it reveals that our freedom operates within the boundaries of God's sovereignty. We are genuinely free to choose, and genuinely responsible for our choices, yet our freedom cannot ultimately overthrow God's purposes.

Consider the striking image in Psalm 76:10: "Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained." Even human rage against God paradoxically ends up glorifying Him. As the waves of the ocean are free to crash against the shore with all their might, yet cannot exceed the boundaries God has set, so human sin rages within limits that ultimately serve God's purposes.

Thomas Aquinas explained this through the distinction between God's permissive will and His positive will. God does not positively will sin—He never desires it or causes it. But He permits it within His providential plan, knowing that He can bring from it a greater good that manifests His glory and serves His creatures' ultimate benefit (Summa Theologiae, I-II, Q. 79, Art. 1).

 

Personal Implications: Living in Light of Providence

What does this mean for our daily lives?

Unshakeable Hope: If God can use even the sinful actions of others for our good, then we are never ultimately at the mercy of human wickedness. The betrayal of a friend, the injustice of an employer, the malice of an enemy—none of these can separate us from God's loving purpose for our lives. As Paul triumphantly declares, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

Profound Humility: If God can use even sin within His providence, how much more can He use our feeble attempts at goodness, flawed though they may be? We need not be paralyzed by perfectionism or the fear that our imperfect efforts might somehow thwart God's plans. As St. Thérèse of Lisieux understood, God can use even our weaknesses and failures as channels of grace when offered to Him in love.

"I will seek out a means of going to heaven by a little way—very straight, very short, and totally new. We are living in an age of inventions; there is no need to take the trouble of climbing stairs, for with an elevator one can be transported in the twinkling of an eye. I want to find a spiritual elevator to carry me to Jesus, for I am too small to climb the rough stairway of perfection." (Story of a Soul, Manuscript B, 3v)

Freedom from Vengeance: Joseph could forgive his brothers because he saw God's hand working through their evil actions. When we truly grasp that God can transform the evil done to us into good, we are freed from the corrosive need to settle scores. We can leave justice in God's hands, knowing that He will both deal with sin appropriately and bring good from what was meant for evil.

 

The Challenge of Trust and the Conclusion

Yet we must be honest—this truth is easier to affirm in theology than to embrace in suffering. When we are in the midst of betrayal, when injustice seems to triumph, when the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer, it can be extraordinarily difficult to believe that God is working all things for good. Here we must walk by faith, not by sight, trusting the One who proved His love at Calvary.

The proper response is neither passive resignation nor presumptuous testing of God. We should resist evil, work for justice, and refuse to cooperate with sin. But we do so knowing that even when evil seems to win temporary victories, it cannot ultimately derail God's purposes. We fight against injustice while trusting that God can incorporate all our struggles into a greater story of redemption.

The doctrine of God's complete and all-encompassing providence is not an invitation to fatalism, but a profound call to courageous trust. It anchors our hope not in the fragility of human goodness or the predictability of circumstances, but in the transcendent, creative power of a God who is so wise and so good that He can bring light from the deepest darkness. Our comfort is that even the "crooked lines" of human history and our own lives are constantly being woven by a sovereign and loving hand toward a perfect, glorious end. . We can therefore rest secure, knowing that our ultimate destiny is safe in the hands of the Master.

 

God Bless,

Judah