(This was taken and typed out from a book called, "Trusting God When Life Hurts.")
God's Wisdom is not only as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth, it is also higher than the wisdom and cunning of our adversaries. This should be a great comfort to us. I personally have, at least to this point in my life, found adversity from contrary circumstances more easy to bear than that which comes at the hands of other people. David apparently felt the same way. In 2 Samuel 24:14, he said, " I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great, but do not let me fall into the hands of men."
Other people for various reasons may plan and scheme to treat us unjustly, to take advantage of us, or to, "use" us for their own selfish ends. Buy Proverbs 21:30 says, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Therefore we can say in the words of Paul, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) Even the most nefarious schemes of our adversaries can only accomplish what God has Sovereignly ordained for us and in His infinite wisdom skillfully brings to pass.
Joseph's brothers thought they were getting rid of their brother of whom they were exceedingly envious. But God planned all along to use their scheme to send Joseph ahead of them to be their provider during their seven years of famine. They intended their actions for evil but God intended them for good.
Saul sought to kill David because David was receiving more praise for his military prowess than was Saul. But God used those months and years when David was hiding from Saul, to build into David the character that made him a great king and a man after God's own heart. Many of the most meaningful Psalms were aparently written during those months. One of my favorites, Psalm 34, was written during a time when David was reduced to acting as an insane man for fear of a heathen king. Yet that is the Psalm I frequently turn to when I struggle with discouragement. What Saul meant for evil, God meant for good.
satan thought that by getting God to allow him to afflict Job, he would thereby get Job to curse God to His face. But he succeeded only in being an instrument to bring Job into a deeper and more reverent relationship with God.
satan was given permission to afflict Saul with a thorn in the flesh to torment him. satan probably thought that he would probably nullify the effectiveness of Paul's Ministry. Instead, he succeeded only in putting Paul in the circumstance where Paul learned experimentally the sufficiency of God's grace and that his strength is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9) Think of how many thousands of believers down through the centuries have found God's grace to be sufficient for them through meditating on God's words to Paul at that time.
God's wisdom, then, is greater than the wisdom of any of our adversaries, whether they be other people or the devil himself. Therefore we should not fear what they seek to do, or even succeed in doing to us. God is just as much at work in thise "things" as He is in the adversities of sickness, death, financial reversal, and the ravages of nature.
In researching the subject of God's wisdom among the teachers of previous centuries, I came across the following paragraph, which so beautifully sums up all that i have tried to say on the subject. I append it without further comment, hoping that it will encourage you, as it has me, to trust God in all circumstances, whether private or public, and to believe that He is working all things out for good as well as for His glory.
It should fill us with joy, that infinite wisdom guides the affairs of the world. Many of it's events are shrouded in darkness and mystery, an inextricable confusion sometimes seems to reign. Often wickedness prevails, and God seems to have forgotten the creatures that He has made. Our own path through life is dark and devious, and beset with difficulties and danger. How full of consolation the doctrine, that infinite wisdom directs every event, brings order out of confusion, and light out of darkness. And, to those who love God, causes all things, whatever be their present aspect and apparent tendency, to work together for good.
