We have a friend who’s a folk artist. A few years back he carved and painted two small refrigerator magnets that have become prized decorations in our kitchen. One is the Planters mascot, Mister Peanut; the other is the Pillsbury Doughboy, Poppin’ Fresh. Both are well made and absolutely nail the characters.
Our friend also likes to cook — Southern-style! Once, he said that whenever he boiled potatoes for mashing, he’d drain off the water and save it. The “broth” contained a lot of the starch from the spuds, as well as the potato flavor that’s currently popular in breads. He’d use this liquid instead of plain water whenever he made biscuits. The biscuits held together better and had a richer flavor!
It’s similar to what we do when boiling chicken for certain dishes: we save the “stock” and use it to flavor soups, casseroles, and our favorite chicken and rice dish. Guests often ask what gives the rice such a savory flavor. We always give the short, direct answer. But the longer, indirect answer is that we don’t waste anything; what many people decant, cut away, and cast out — assuming it to be worthless — is always put to good use in our kitchen. Even fruit and vegetable peelings can be composted.
Another item we save and “repurpose” is stale bread. We use it to make stuffing and bread pudding. Why waste a good thing, even if it appears to be “bad” — just like the cloudy liquid left over from boiled potatoes. In the kitchen, EVERYTHING that’s seemingly of no value, seemingly a “lost cause” or a “complete waste” can serve a good purpose. Savvy cooks never waste. And neither does God.
The savviest “cook” in the kitchen of life is our Heavenly Father, and He never wastes anything. He simply repurposes it for His use. That means the fallout from a failed relationship or business venture will be put to good use in our lives. God may use a painful or embarrassing experience to teach us a truth, help us develop better character, or get us ready for a bigger challenge. Sometimes, He simply wants to get us on the right track again, so that he can fulfill our special destiny.
He uses defeat to make us stronger. He repurposes grief to make us compassionate. He allows closed doors and missed “opportunities” to keep us out of trouble. He doesn’t waste anything.
Whatever we’ve suffered, whatever we’re going through, whatever mistakes we’ve made, God always finds a good use for these “bad” experiences — which seem at the time like “lost causes”; like a “complete waste”! But in God’s kitchen there’s no waste. Every tear you’ve shed, every heartache you’ve endured, every moment of sorrow and suffering, doubt and despair — He’s restructured into something new and more wonderful. We usually don’t know what God is cooking up. Nor can we often see how He’ll repurpose something wrong and destructive into something right and renewed. But His Word explains to us that He continually does so. We can trust Him that our losses, our failures, our sorrows are never wasted. He is truly the God who renews, repurposes, restructures and reuses all we have and have gone through — the good, the bad, and the ugly.
“…You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result….” (Genesis 50:20 NASB)
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28 NLT)
