Gaining Through Losing

I was reading a book a friend of mine wrote today and one of his statements jumped off the page at me. “Gaining through losing isn’t fun.” It was one of those statements I had to dwell on a few moments and allow it to roll around in my head for a little while. In his circumstance, my friend was referring to a sickness that cost him a great deal of his brain function, and what he had gained as a result of that loss.

As I pondered his words, I considered David and Goliath and the slingshot David used to kill Goliath. All of the Bible pictures I’ve ever seen of this story always show David using a slingshot you spin around and around. Even the songs about this event describe the slingshot this way. Don’t you just remember singing as a child, “and one little stone went in the sling and the sling went round and round”?

But what if it were the kind of slingshot you pulled back on to release the rock? Now I realize rubber wasn’t invented yet, but hang with me here for a second. When you pull back on the rock in a rubber band slingshot, it appears the rock is moving backwards, losing ground. But, it is really gaining momentum to be catapulted forward to achieve a desired result. In David’s circumstance, slaying the giant and catapulting David’s beginning as the future leader of Israel.

I think in God’s economy, that’s the way it works. Many times it appears as though you are moving backwards, but God is really setting the stage to move you forward. Often when it seems all is lost, a great gain is really about to occur.

When Jacob thought he had lost his favorite son Joseph to wild animals, God was really orchestrating a gain. He was allowing the circumstances to catapult Joseph to be the savior of his family. When Moses’ mother thought she was losing her son to Pharaoh’s daughter, God was orchestrating the circumstances to allow Moses to be the leader of Israel to the Promised Land. When Mary and Martha thought they had lost their brother Lazarus to death, God was orchestrating the circumstances to allow Jesus to show He had power over even death.

And when all seemed lost as Christ lay in the tomb, the greatest gain of all was about to occur. God was orchestrating the circumstances to allow each of us to gain power over sin and death through Christ.

I don’t know your circumstances today. You might be facing a situation in which you feel all is lost. Be comforted in knowing God just may be orchestrating your circumstances for a gain you never expected.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Philippians 3:7-9