"More Than We Know"

"There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali." (Psalms 68:27) I know it's hard to imagine this, but I do believe that there is good that comes from bad. We cannot see what that might become in the time that something is taking place; as far as we can tell, there is nothing good that is going to happen from a bad situation. But that's the beauty of how God works 'all things towards the good'; whether we can see it happen or not, it's what He does. The thing that we need to realize is that the good that might happen may not be specifically for the one who is going through something bad. People are always asking, Why do bad things happen to good people? What would be thought of if bad things only happened to bad people? Well for one, maybe more people would think that they need to strive to be good; but in reality, the Bible says that there is none good (Romans 3:10-12). Growing up, I was one of these kids that thought I would not live past the age of thirty. I was always so fearless, mostly because I thought I was going to die soon anyways, so why not make the most of what time I had. Here I am now, almost sixty, and I am wishing I would have spent my younger years more wisely; maybe by doing more for the Lord and less for myself, or adopting children, or getting into full time ministry. We can really spend a lot of energy dwelling on the past; energy that might be better used by planning for the future, like in thinking about something we can do today to make someones life a little better. If I could do anything now, my life could be a reason to cherish what you have, and not waste time arguing over stupid stuff. That is my biggest regret of all, that I would sometimes treat my wife badly. I know I can't do anything about that now, but it hurts thinking about the stupid things that we would fight over; and I take the blame! Yes, I know, they say that it takes two, but when you are called to "die to yourself", you have more of a role in how things happen then you might think... "For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body." (Ephesians 5:25-30) NLT