How do we see Job’s confession (Job 42:2) play out in real life? If no plan of God’s can be thwarted, what does that mean for His children?
Job had come to the end of himself, realizing that all that had happened to him, as bad as it was, could somehow be attributed to the goodness and grace of God. His repentance reflected a new, broader understanding of God.
Job didn’t even know the backstory of Satan’s accusations. But God knew from the beginning not only that Job would pass the test, but that from his story, countless millions would profit. Satan actually had played into God’s hands, which he does every time. Satan never checkmates God.
Another great example of God’s blessing through trials is Joseph, who is sold into slavery, and spends years in an Egyptian prison for a crime he did not commit. When his brothers were afraid he would take vengeance, he replied (Genesis 50:19, 20), “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” God meant it for good. God had purposed all of it.
Neither Job nor Joseph are in denial about the real evil done to them. They are not “thinking positively” or merely putting the best face on a bad situation. No, they realize that death and disasters, sickness and setbacks, though real, do not have the last word.
This is how and why Paul can write so boldly about all things working together for our good (Romans 8:28). It is not that everything IS good, but that both the good and the bad which happens to us is purposeful and beneficial, whether we grasp it at the time or not.
We serve a God who is good, wise, and so powerful that He turns even the darkest of curses into blessings for His people. Even that thing you are experiencing right now. This is a God worthy of worship.
“The Lord your God would not listen to Balaam
but turned the curse into a blessing for you,
because the Lord your God loves you.”
Deuteronomy 23:5