God Meant for Good

By Pastor Sunny

Tears streamed down Joon’s face as he cried out, “I hate him.”

It was my first year serving as a seminary intern at a Korean church in Minneapolis. What began as a brief conversation lasted several hours as he poured out his heart. Joon struggled navigating his immigrant parents’ expectations and the world in which he was growing up. Often, his pain emerged sideways, in sarcasm, cynicism, and anger. That night, however, he could no longer contain it. His pain spilled out in tears and screams.

As I drove home that night, I found myself thanking God for my own painful childhood experiences.

My father and I had not always gotten along. We were both navigating the challenges of immigration, but we carried out those struggles differently. My father had endured profound disappointments, and much of his parenting was shaped by his desire to hold on to the life and hopes he had left behind. To me, Korea was the country we left behind and I embraced the new life in a new land. I was a young man with dreams of my own, and we clashed.

Years later, I began to understand that those difficult experiences had prepared me to sit with Joon that night.

In Genesis, we meet Joseph, a man who had every reason to be angry. His own brothers sold him into slavery. Just when his life appeared to be improving, he was falsely accused and thrown into prison. His story was marked by betrayal after betrayal.

Eventually Joseph’s circumstances changed. He became a powerful leader in Egypt, and the very people who caused his greatest pains stood before him asking for mercy.

Instead of seeking vengeance, Joseph says, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”

Joseph did not pretend that what happened to him was acceptable. He did not deny his pain or excuse the wrong his brothers had done. But he refused to let their actions have the final word over his life.

The very experiences that caused Joseph deep pain is what God used to prepare him to serve others.

That night, through his tears, Joon said, “You are the first person who understood me.”

I understood him because, in some way, I had been there too. I knew the pain of unrealistic expectations, the feeling that nothing I did was ever good enough, and the pressure to become someone else’s idea of who I should be.

Joon’s relationship with his father never improved. But our conversations helped him reduce some of the conflict at home.

Looking back, I realize that my painful experiences became part of the foundation of my ministry. This does not mean that painful experiences are good. But I have learned that being able to trust God to bring good out of what others intended for evil can lessen the pain.

Throughout my forty years of ministry, I have often offered prayers of thanksgiving for the ways God has used my pain. I am grateful not for the pain itself, but for the grace through which God has redeemed it and used it to serve others.

May we trust God’s hands even in the painful places of our lives.

Pastor Sunny