Useful Idiots—God's Power Plan for Changing Us

6/6/2025

What follows can only be understood by, and only applies to, those who live only to please God not themselves, and want miraculous Change, at any cost, to please God and to be like Jesus. In other words, what follows is only for Christians—and those who are wanting to become Christians.

“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Matthew 5:30). How? I don’t know how to do that! It’s scary!

Of course. For all of us. However, if you Volunteer for the mission, the skandalon of becoming more like Jesus (because there’s nothing more important to you than that), the Master Teacher will help you go that way, as He did. “He left you an example that you may follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

“Satan has desired to sift you and shake you like a stalk of wheat, Simon Peter.” (Luke 22:31) “Satan has desired, Job, to beat you and hurt you and humiliate you.”

“But I have prayed for you guys, you two, and all of you. And when satan hurls the spikes to harm you, catch them and pound them into his coffin. When you are Changed from one degree of glory to another, learning obedience by the things that you suffer though, you are a son or daughter, strengthen your brothers and sisters. Use what you have learned to call to the deep out of your newly discovered depth. You are an Overcomer by the blood of the lamb, the word of your story of victory relayed to others, and you love not your life, or this mere illusory molecular world—but only Me.” (Luke 22:32, Revelation 12:11)

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Below are several biblical examples, and there are dozens more, where God weaves the actions of “useful idiots”—people who meant to harm us, or they acted unwittingly—into His power-plan for changing us into the image, character, stature, wisdom, and family-likeness of His Son Jesus:

1. Joseph and His Brothers
Genesis 50:20
Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery out of jealousy. But, Joseph later tells them:
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Their harmful actions placed Joseph in Egypt, where he would ultimately save nations from famine.

2. Pharaoh of Egypt
Exodus 9:16
Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let the Israelites go, GOD repeatedly “hardening his heart.” God says: “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Pharaoh’s resistance only magnified God’s power and glory.

3. Shimei and King David
2 Samuel 16:5-13
Shimei curses and throws stones at David as he flees Jerusalem. David’s men want to kill Shimei, but David says:
“Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.”

David sees God’s sovereign hand even in Shimei’s hostility, using it for David’s humility and eventual restoration.

4. Haman and the Jews (Book of Esther)
Esther 3-7
Haman plots to destroy the Jews, but his plans backfire. The very gallows he built for Mordecai are used for his own execution, and his plot leads to the Jews’ deliverance and celebration (Purim).

5. Judas Iscariot
Matthew 26:14-16, 47-50
Judas betrays Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, intending harm. Still, his betrayal fulfills prophecy and leads directly to the crucifixion and resurrection—God’s ultimate act of Opportunity for the human race to be delivered, “translated” from a hopeless, miserable, dead-end plight and from hell.

6. The Religious Leaders and Roman Authorities
Acts 2:23
Peter says:
“This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”

Their malicious intent becomes the means by which salvation and deliverance are Provided for the human race.

7. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon
Jeremiah 25:9
God calls Nebuchadnezzar “my servant” even as he conquers and exiles Judah. Though Nebuchadnezzar acts for his own gain, God uses him to discipline Israel and ultimately bring about restoration.

8. The Persecution of the Early Church
Acts 8:1-4
After Stephen’s martyrdom, persecution scatters the believers. Instead of destroying the church, this spreads the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria.

9. The Betrayal of Samson
Judges 14-16
Samson’s enemies manipulate Delilah to betray him, but even in Samson’s final moments, God uses his death to defeat the Philistines.

10. The Plot Against Daniel
Daniel 6
Daniel’s rivals plot to have him thrown into the lions’ den. Instead, God delivers Daniel, and the king decrees reverence for Daniel’s God.

God is sovereign, weaving even the harmful, foolish, or self-serving actions of people into His tapestry of redemption and blessing for those who love Him. Even “useful idiots”—those who oppose or misunderstand God’s purposes—are ultimately instruments in His hands.

That’s the end of playing the victim card, or whining or complaining, or comparing, because now we embrace the things that change us into the likeness of Jesus. We catch the spikes and marvel at how satan has provided us the very weapons that will seal his doom in us and around us.

Are you willing to cut off your hand if it causes you to hurt Jesus? Are you willing to gouge out your eye if you have offended God with your sloppy gaze at the things of the world or at people that you admire in the flesh?

Give God permission because you want nothing more than to be like Jesus, and He will find a creative way to help you by “cutting off your hand” or “gouging out your eye” via painful circumstances that someone who didn’t trust God or look to God or care to be like Jesus would consider unfair or cause for retaliation.

Jesus was a lamb led to the slaughter, silent before His shearers. So can you be if you open your hands to Him and lift your eyes to heaven and ask Him to help you to “learn obedience by the things you suffer” (Hebrews 5:8)—as did Job. As did David. As did Jesus.

And so shall you—if you are willing to let God provide the circumstances and “useful idiots” that are pawns in His game to accomplish His tasks. We need the people to run machines and refine petroleum and build cars and run cash registers. And we need useful idiots to lie and steal and cheat and attack... to provide skandalon, to cut off our hand and gouge out our eye, so we can grow spiritually and be weaned away from this present age, caught up into on earth as it is in heaven Zoe Life, if we look up and trust God rather than defend ourselves or retaliate. He will work everything together for the good of growing into the family likeness of Jesus, if we love him and are called according to His purposes—instead of our own and this present, decaying age.

Did you sign up for this? WILL you now sign up for THIS? “Few will be those who find ETERNAL life, Life that always was and always will be.” (Matthew 7:14, John 17:3) And this has so little to do with “Heaven.” Hallel Ja. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.

A young one’s journal notes after a moment of clarity and truth and seed planting.

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