1Samuel 16:22 | “Then Samuel asked, ‘ Are these all the sons you have?’ ‘There is still the youngest,’ Jesse replied. ‘But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep.’ ‘Send for him at once,’ Samuel said. ‘We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.'”

Flowers are beautiful, especially when they bloom. But they grow through dirt before they can bloom. The above scripture has a painful backstory. Samuel was to secretly anoint a new king to replace King Saul. Jesse was asked to come to a ceremony with his sons, and he came with all his sons except David. David was relegated to the wilderness where he daily risked his life for a handful of sheep. His own father, Jesse, didn’t think it important to bring him to see Samuel, but the Lord had something great in mind for David.

Looking at David while he was still in the wilderness, you would think that his brothers had better prospects than him. But it was in the same wilderness that David forged close fellowship with God and developed the skills to shepherd the people of God.(Psalm 78:70-72) Even his fighting abilities with which he defeated Goliath was moulded in the same wilderness. What looked like a negative situation in David’s life was actually a crucible where the Lord helped David metamorphose into the king, priest and prophet God wanted him to be.

The bible is filled with examples of men and women of God who were built by the apparent ‘negatives’ in their lives. Joseph readily comes to mind. I am no longer quick to judge seemingly unpleasant situations as ‘negatives’. Neither should you. Do you love God? If yes, then everything will work together for your good, including the ‘negatives’. Bliss be with you.