Rick Warren's Daily DevotionalSample

God Brings Good Out of Bad God is an expert at bringing good out of bad. He could have kept Paul out of prison in Philippi but instead He let Paul go to prison and the jailer became a believer as a result. God could have kept Jesus from the cross but He let Him go -- His own Son -- He let Him suffer and die. Did He bring any good out of that? I'd say He did! The things you wish were most removed from your life are often the very things that God is using to shape you and make you into the believer of character He wants you to be. He wants to use that problem for good in your life. There's something more important than your pain. It's what you're learning from that pain. God is in control. So what's the key? What's our response? Our response is to look past the pain. "This is the reason we never lose heart. These troubles which are temporary are winning for us a permanent, a glorious and solid reward out of proportion to our pain. So we don't look at the temporary situation. We look beyond to see the eternal benefits." (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 Phillips)