Everything according to God’s Purpose – Proverbs 16:4

Proverbs 16:4 – “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”

Many people are currently asking, “Why God would allow this COVID-19 coronavirus to wreak havoc on the world today?”  Millions of people have been infected by the virus, and hundreds of thousands of people have died.  Livelihoods have been destroyed, retirement funds eliminated, and businesses bankrupt.  The world has changed within the past five months of this pandemic first rearing its ugly head.  So the question is “Why?  Why would God even allow this to happen?”

I am not a world-renown scientist (although I am a graduate student in biological sciences) who can tell you the biological reasons why this occurred.  I am not an epidemiologist, who can explain to you why the social interactions that people have led to the spread of the virus.  And I am definitely not a theologian or an apologist, who can explain and defend why God allowed this to happen.  But what I am is a disciple of Christ, who read this verse in my devotions today and wanted to share it with you all.

Proverbs 16:4 states, “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”  I bolded and underlined these words, because they are key important phrases in this simple proverb that might get overlooked.  “The Lord” reminds us that the Person who ultimately is in control is God.  “Everything” tells us that nothing is out of God’s purview and control.  “Its purpose” lets us know that all things happen according to the plan that God has set out for it.  “Even the wicked” reveals to us that not only does God have a purpose for the good that happens but also the wicked and evil.  Although God hates sin and would have loved for man never to fall, He allowed us to have free choice, and we chose to sin.  Because of that choice, sin and wickedness and evil came into this world, of which, we are living with the consequences.  However, even these horrible things can be used by God to accomplish His overall purpose.  He is ultimately in control.

You may have expected to a receive a clear-cut answer from me as to “Why God allowed this coronavirus to create a pandemic?” but I cannot give that to you.  I am not God and will not presume to answer for Him.  All I can do is encourage you to trust that He knows what He is doing, and all this will work out for and according to His purpose.  We can trust that God will do what is best!

To close out, I just wanted to share a memory of mine from almost six years ago that is a good illustration that even though we don’t know why God allows something to happen, it works out according to His will.  Six years ago, I took a cruise to see Greece and Israel.  It was an exciting time where I got to visit all the places I read about in the Bible.  The unfortunate thing was that I was stuck on a cruise ship where the average age was sixty years old or above.  It wasn’t that much fun, being in my early twenties without many people to interact with.  Surprisingly, one day I spoke with one of the crew members, who was about my age that was greeting guests outside the door of the theatre on the ship.  That short conversation went from a few minutes to hours to eventually midnight with a follow-up conversation on a future day.  We talked about everything from Pixar animated shorts to the best comic book heroes to our dreams and aspirations to our faith and even to our blogs.  To me it was a great time meeting, talking with someone, and making a new friend, but I didn’t know that those conversations were being used by God.  When I returned home and looked up my friend’s blog, I discovered a post speaking about how those conversations helped bring encouragement at a time when it was needed most.  God had taken a conversation and used it for His purpose, unbeknownst to me.

So with that, I just want to remind you that God has a purpose for everything – whether it be this virus, your job, your situation, and most importantly yourself.  Trust that He will work everything according to His will!  And for those who love God, all things will work together for good! (Romans 8:28)