We all know what it feels like to see our painful circumstances and wonder, “What possible good could come from this?” When suffering hits, when the plan collapses, the diagnosis comes, or the relationship breaks, it is easy to think, “I must be cursed, unlucky, or forgotten by God.”

But Scripture tells a different story. Though you suffer, you are not unfortunate. God is at work.

What About the Bad Things?

“All things,” Paul says in Romans 8:28, “work together for good to those who love God.” All things. That is easy to affirm when life is sweet. But when it is bitter, we need examples to tattoo this truth on our hearts: God is at work.

Imagine standing next to these people in their darkest moments:

Esther (Book of Esther)

Before Esther ever wore a crown, she wore sorrow. She lost her parents and was raised as an orphan by her cousin Mordecai (Esther 2:7). Later, she was taken into the king’s harem (Esther 2:8), a situation writ large with fear and uncertainty. Yet those were the very hardships God worked out to position her to stand before King Ahasuerus and save her people from destruction (Esther 7:3–6).

What seemed misfortune was actually mercy. Through Esther’s pain, God preserved Israel and the line of the coming Messiah (Matthew 1:1–17). He was working for good.

Joseph (Genesis 37–50)

Betrayed by his hateful, murderous brothers, sold into slavery (Genesis 37:28), falsely accused, and imprisoned unjustly (Genesis 39:20). Yet when his story reached its resolution, he could look his brothers in the eye and say,

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” Genesis 50:20

God did not merely respond to evil and turn it to good, he lovingly planned that their evil and Joseph’s suffering would be the very work to save Israel from famine and to preserve the Messiah’s line to save the world from sin (Genesis 49:10). He was working for good.

Jesus (Acts 2:23–24)

It isn’t difficult to imagine the disciples watching Christ be falsely condemned, unjustly tortured, and brutally slaughtered and think, “How can an all-powerful and loving God allow this? He is the Messiah! What possible good could come from Him being crucified?”

Yet, once Peter saw those events with God’s eyes, he explained:

“This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death.” (Acts 2:23–24)

Peter understood, the greatest evil this world has ever witnessed was “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Men crucified him to murder, but God crucified him to save. The darkest day in history was the very root of salvation of the world. Every thread of history before that moment was weaving toward the cross.

There are many more examples we could point out in Scripture and life, but the point is clear already: in the good and bad, God is working for your good.

We See the Bottom

If you have ever watched a tapestry being woven, you know that the back side looks messy and confusing. Threads crisscross and knot in every direction. From the bottom view, it is impossible to see anything beautiful. But when you flip it over, you see the masterpiece the artist was weaving all along.

Our lives are like that. They often feel tangled, chaotic, and without pattern or purpose. But Scripture gives us a glimpse from the top. God sees what we cannot so he reminds us:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” Isaiah 55:8

When you cannot make sense of suffering, remember: we see only the bottom, but God sees the top. What mess of our pain is weaving into his masterpiece of mercy. God is working for good.

What About My Bad Things?

Have you ever prayed, “Lord, make me more like Christ,” and then complained when life got hard? Is it possible that God’s very answer to your prayer for Christ-likeness are those very trials? In love, could God be using the sandpaper of suffering to grow your trust, patience, wisdom, and love (James 1:2–4; Romans 5:3–5)? The answer is yes. God promises to do only good to his children (Jer. 32:30). Not always the good we prefer, but always the good we need.

As Charles Spurgeon said, “When you cannot trace His hand, you must learn to trust His heart.” When you find yourself overwhelmed by the waves of suffering, learn to, “Kiss the wave that smashes you against the Rock of Ages.”

If you are not a believer in Jesus, then consider what God may be doing in your pain. Could it be that God may be burning your house down so you might finally run into His (Luke 15:17–20)?

Christ, Our Terrifying Lion

In The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis gives us a vivid picture of this truth. The story follows a young orphan named Shasta, who was found as an abandoned baby on a boat. In his teens, the young, sad orphan begins a journey filled with danger after danger. Many of the dangers involved lions. Once, a roaring lion forced him and his friend Aravis to flee in terror. Later, another lion pursued him through the mountains. Still later, while Shasta and Aravis were making their dash to King Lune, a lion violently attacked him in the dark of night and nearly killed his friend .

To Shasta, each of these lions was an enemy. He saw these attacks, along with his many other misfortunes, as proof that he was unlucky, cursed, and alone in a world set against him. Near the end of his story, tired and afraid, he finally breaks down and says, “I am the most unfortunate boy in all the world.”

But then, from the darkness, a deep voice replies:

“I do not call you unfortunate.”

The voice belongs to Aslan, the great King of all Narnia. In that moment, Aslan reveals what Shasta could never have seen on his own: all the “lions” he thought were against him were actually one Lion, the Lion King of Narnia, guiding, protecting, and shaping him all along.

“I was the lion,” Aslan says. “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis; I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept; I was the lion who gave the horses new strength of fear for the last mile so that you reached King Lune in time. And I was the lion who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

Every frightening roar had been mercy. Every painful encounter had been love. What seemed like chaos was actually care. Shasta’s story was not one of bad luck. It was one of strong love.

So it is with you.

You may not understand how God is working, but you can trust that He is working; in the pleasures and the pains. The God who sent His Son to die for you has already proven His heart. He is wise, trust Him. He is powerful, trust Him. He is good, trust Him. You can only see the bottom, but God is working from the top.

Brother and sister, though you suffer, you are not unfortunate.