God Meant It Unto Good

"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." (Genesis 50:20). The truly miraculous thing about the Atonement is not just that we can be forgiven for our mistakes, but that God can transform our evil deeds into good works for His glory. In JRR Tolkien's the Silmarillion, his version of God, Eru Illuvatar, speaks to his version of Satan, Melkor, about the futility of trying to ruin His good works: "And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined." God can see the end from the beginning. He has plans within plans within plans. Of course He would spare each of us the heartache that comes from sinning and making stupid mistakes, but since that can't always happen, He has already devised ways of taking even our worst mistakes and weaving them into His grand plan so that His work will become even more glorious. This doesn't give us license to sin without consequences, but it should give us comfort to know that not only can we obtain forgiveness but also God can make it so that our life will end up better than we could have imagined not just in spite of but because of the mistakes we made. The sons of Israel did a horrible, horrible thing selling their brother into slavery, but God was able to transform that evil deed into a miracle that saved not just Joseph's family but all of Egypt and the surrounding countries.