The Doctor's Knife and the Mugger's Knife
IllustrationAnalogy★★★★A DOCTOR has a knife. When a doctor makes an incision, you bleed.
A mugger has a knife. If he cuts you and hurts you, you bleed. Is there a difference between the doctor’s knife and the mugger’s knife since both do the same thing? Both cut you.
With either you are hurt and you bleed. Is a mugger and doctor the same? Of course not. Even though they do the same thing, it’s not the same.
The difference between a doctor’s knife and a mugger’s knife is intent. The doctor’s intent in cutting you is to fix something that’s wrong to make you stronger. The mugger’s intent in cutting you is to break something to make you weaker. They both do the same thing but their intent is different.
Satan’s intent is to destroy. Satan’s intent is to disable. Satan’s intent is to subjugate. God’s intent, even if He has to cut you and let you bleed, is always to set you free.
You can thank God that when you’re cut, it’s designed to heal you.
The point
A doctor's knife and a mugger's knife both wound, but their intents differ dramatically—one heals and strengthens while the other harms and weakens; God's intent in trials is always to heal and free us.