The enemy has a plan for your destruction, but God has a plan for your redemption. Every attack the devil launches, every scheme he devises, every wound he inflicts is ammunition God uses to build something the enemy never saw coming.
Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, intending to destroy him, but God used that betrayal to position Joseph to save nations by exalting him to second in command in Egypt.
Satan orchestrated Jesus’ crucifixion, thinking he’d won, only to discover he’d triggered the very mechanism of humanity’s salvation. The devil meant it for evil, but God turned it to good.
This pattern repeats throughout Scripture and throughout history.
Author Corrie ten Boom, who survived Nazi concentration camps, wrote,
“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”
What felt like hell became her greatest testimony of God’s faithfulness. The attacks meant to break you are often the catalysts God uses to promote you. The betrayals designed to destroy your destiny become the very things that launch you into purpose. God specializes in redemption, taking the devil’s worst and transforming it into His best.
These verses reveal that God’s sovereignty extends even over enemy attacks, that nothing touches your life without passing through His filter first, and that He can turn any evil into ultimate good for those who love Him.
The Divine Reversal: God’s Sovereignty Over Enemy Attacks
Throughout Scripture, a consistent pattern emerges: Satan’s schemes become the precise tools God uses to accomplish His greatest purposes.
This isn’t a coincidence or divine improvisation; it’s the intentional sovereignty of a God who sees every attack before it lands and already knows how He’ll repurpose it for glory.
The crucifixion stands as history’s ultimate example: Satan thought he’d destroyed the Messiah, but instead triggered humanity’s redemption.
This divine reversal principle operates in believers’ lives today.
The betrayal meant to isolate you may position you for promotion. The loss designed to devastate you might redirect you toward your true calling.
God doesn’t just waste your pain; He weaponizes it against the very enemy who caused it.
Bible Verses Proving That What the Devil Meant for Evil, God Turned to Good
1. Genesis 50:20 – You Intended to Harm Me, but God Intended It for Good
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
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2. Romans 8:28 – God Works for the Good
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.
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3. Job 42:2 – No Purpose of Yours Can Be Thwarted
I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
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4. Isaiah 54:17 – No Weapon Forged Against You Will Prevail
No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me, declares the Lord.
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5. Acts 2:23-24 – By God’s Deliberate Plan and Foreknowledge
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. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
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6. Psalm 118:22-23 – The Stone the Builders Rejected
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
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7. Joel 2:25 – I Will Repay You for the Years the Locusts Have Eaten
I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you.
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8. Philippians 1:12-13 – What Has Happened Has Actually Served to Advance the Gospel
Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.
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9. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – My Power Is Made Perfect in Weakness
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
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10. Psalm 23:5 – You Prepare a Table Before Me in the Presence of My Enemies
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
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11. Isaiah 61:3 – A Crown of Beauty Instead of Ashes
And provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
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12. Romans 5:3-5 – We Glory in Our Sufferings
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
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13. 1 Peter 5:10 – He Will Himself Restore You
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
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14. Psalm 30:11 – You Turned My Wailing Into Dancing
You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
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15. Isaiah 43:2 – When You Pass Through the Waters
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
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16. 2 Corinthians 4:17 – Our Light and Momentary Troubles
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
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17. Psalm 126:5-6 – Those Who Sow With Tears Will Reap With Songs of Joy
Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
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18. Exodus 14:14 – The Lord Will Fight for You
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
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19. Proverbs 16:4 – The Lord Works Out Everything to Its Proper End
The Lord works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.
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20. Daniel 3:27 – The Fire Had Not Harmed Their Bodies
And the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
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21. Acts 4:27-28 – They Did What Your Power Had Decided
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
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22. Psalm 37:23-24 – Though He May Stumble, He Will Not Fall
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
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23. Isaiah 61:7 – Instead of Your Shame You Will Receive a Double Portion
Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.
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24. James 1:2-4 – Consider It Pure Joy When You Face Trials
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
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25. 2 Samuel 12:24 – Then David Comforted His Wife Bathsheba
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him.
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26. Psalm 105:17-19 – He Sent a Man Before Them
And he sent a man before them—Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.
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27. Acts 8:1-4 – Those Who Had Been Scattered Preached the Word
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
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28. Genesis 45:5-8 – God Sent Me Ahead of You
And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
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29. Revelation 12:10-11 – They Triumphed Over Him by the Blood of the Lamb
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
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30. Esther 6:1-3 – That Night the King Could Not Sleep
That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked. “Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered.
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31. Numbers 23:23 – There Is No Divination Against Jacob
There is no divination against Jacob, no evil omens against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!'”
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32. Isaiah 49:25 – I Will Contend With Those Who Contend With You
But this is what the Lord says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.”
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33. Psalm 138:8 – The Lord Will Vindicate Me
The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.
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34. 1 Corinthians 15:57 – He Gives Us the Victory
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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35. Nehemiah 4:20 – Our God Will Fight for Us
Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!
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Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About God Turning Evil to Good
God’s ability to turn evil to good doesn’t mean He causes the evil. Satan, human sin, and living in a fallen world produce genuine evil that grieves God’s heart. But God is so sovereign that He can take even what He didn’t cause and weave it into His purposes.
Joseph’s brothers chose evil; God didn’t make them do it. But He used their sinful choice to position Joseph exactly where he needed to be when famine struck. The cross is the ultimate example: the most evil act in history became the greatest good ever accomplished.
This truth doesn’t minimize suffering or suggest you should thank God for evil things. It means that when the enemy attacks, he’s unknowingly serving God’s larger purposes. Satan thought Job’s suffering would cause him to curse God, but it actually deepened Job’s faith and proved Satan wrong.
The devil meant Paul’s thorn in the flesh to hinder ministry, but God used it to keep Paul humble and display His strength in weakness. Every attack has an expiration date, but God’s redemptive purposes last forever.
The promise that God works all things together for good requires faith because you often can’t see the good until you look back. Joseph couldn’t see it in the pit or the prison. But decades later, he could say to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
Your perspective from the middle of the attack is limited. But God sees the end from the beginning, and He’s already turned what looks like disaster into the setup for your next breakthrough.
Say This Prayer
Heavenly Father, the enemy has attacked me in ways that feel devastating. What was meant to destroy me has left me wounded, questioning, and struggling to see how anything good could come from this evil. I desperately need to believe that You can turn what the devil meant for evil into something good.
Help me to trust Your sovereignty even over enemy attacks. Remind me that nothing touches my life without passing through Your hands first, and that You’re already working to redeem what the enemy intended to ruin. Give me Joseph’s perspective to one day say about my attackers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
Strengthen my faith to believe You’re working all things together for my good, even when I can’t see it yet. Help me to trust that the attacks meant to break me are actually positioning me for promotion, that the betrayals designed to destroy my destiny will launch me into purpose, and that the wounds inflicted by the enemy will become testimonies of Your faithfulness.
Turn every attack into a setup for a breakthrough. Use what the devil meant to destroy me as the very thing that propels me into my next season. Redeem every loss, heal every wound, and restore everything the enemy has stolen. Let my story become proof that You specialize in turning evil into good.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.