I can't imagine how devastatingly difficult Good Friday and the following Saturday was for the people who experienced it when it happened.

Even Easter morning, with the resurrection, must have caused as much confusion as it did excitement. The greatest event of all time was covered with trauma, anguish and the unknown dangers and benefits of a new reality.

This post is not merely an attempt to see the good in the bad. It is an encouragement to show the bad is not the end of the story and a challenge to allow our nature to be changed by the Holy Spirit so we can care for others from our bad and walk alongside others enduring their dark days.

Why does the windshield wiper work better on the passenger side?

One day, when I lived in Colorado, I was driving my Jeep in the mountains during a snowstorm. No one was in the passenger seat, I was alone, but I could see that the windshield was squeaky clean over there while I could hardly see out of my side. I cleaned the blades, switched them and even tried to bend the wiper arm but to little avail.

It seems that sort of thing happens all the time, but often it is in matters that are much more consequential.  I was reading some biographical stories of great people whose lives made a huge impact on our world. 

These three people experienced many things going “wrong” as they spent their lives caring for others and doing good.

Hugo Grotius lived from 1583-1645 but is still known as the Father of International Law. His published work, The Rights of War and Peace, still influences legal thinking. He was a child prodigy, mastering Latin by age eight, studying at the University of Leyden at age 11 and taking his doctorate at age 15.

But his brilliance and insight was a threat to the powers of that time so instead of being appreciated he was persecuted. One of his colleagues was beheaded while Hugo was imprisoned. But in prison he read and wrote and eventually escaped by being hidden in a wooden chest.

George Whitfield was a powerful evangelist who ministered in the late 1700’s. People would travel from near and far to hear him preach. Businesses would shut down to give their employees time to go and hear one of his evangelistic sermons. Along with the Wesley brothers he was used to bring a spiritual awakening to America, but his methods were unconventional and threatened many respected churches and pastors. They would not allow him to speak in their churches so he often preached in meadows on the outskirts of cities.

A little girl was left blind by the bad medicine of a traveling doctor. As she matured she maintained a positive attitude and never considered herself handicapped. She taught blind students and she lived on the lower Eastside of Manhattan so she could help the poor and outcasts of society. She also wrote hymns. In all she wrote about 9000 and gained recognition by presidents, famous writers and other dignitaries as well as an adoring general public who considered her America’s Hymn Queen.

But, Fanny Crosby also had her critics who thought her hymns where “gushy and sentimental” and they even questioned her theology. Undeterred in her attitude and work she said, “If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things around me.”

The faith that inspired and sustained these historic figures was a result of the terrible events Jesus gave himself too during Holy Week.

Holy Week reminds me that when the circumstances seemed as dark as a crucifixion it was really Good Friday that paid the price for all of our sins and would be followed by a resurrection that defeated the power of evil, overcame death and gives us all the hope of eternal life and a new nature to live a new life, loving and caring like God does.

Wrong things happen because of the world we live in.

There is opposition to the forces of good to hinder the work, but they refine the worker and reveal the overcoming power that makes a victory a victory. 

Things will go wrong. Brilliance will be opposed by ignorance, kindness will be unappreciated, generosity will be taken advantage of and windshield wipers will malfunction.

But the strength of God living in and through His people will produce a caring nature which leads to a victory even when it all looks bad.