Good or bad?

Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, "The thing comes from the LORD; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. – Genesis 24v50

Bad news. It is something we all have to deal with. Abraham’s servant had just told Rebekah’s family that he believed God had sent him to take her back to Canaan so she could marry Isaac. He asked them what they though about it. This was long before phone calls or email. When people moved in those they moved for good. We know from an incident later in the story that the family did not want her to go. This was sad news for the family.

So how did Laban and Bethuel respond to the news? ‘The Lord sent this,’ they said, ‘we can’t tell if this is good news or bad news.’

There are times in our lives when the news seems so bad that we can’t see the good in it. God sends things our way or allows things to come into our lives that we just don’t get. Our family had two of those events yesterday. They would not be here if God had not allowed them to come.

But we know, we must choose to know, that all things, even the bad news, works together for good to those who love God, to those who are he called according to His purpose.

We also know that His ways may not be our ways. His ways are far above our own ways.

There are times when it is beyond our ken to know the good news from the bad. That’s when our faith is put to the test.

Good news or bad news? It can be hard to tell. But the Lord is still in His holy temple.