In order to hasten the deaths of the condemned men, soldiers are called upon to break their legs (which will prevent them from pushing up with their feet to breathe, causing them to quickly suffocate as their lungs no longer have room to expand). After breaking the legs of the other two men, the soldiers come to Jesus, but they see that He is already dead, so they don’t break His legs (however, one soldier does drive a spear into His side, causing blood and water to come pouring out). (See John 19:31-37.)

When bad things happen to us in life, it’s perhaps a gift to be able to look at what happened and say, “It could have been worse.” Of course, there are different levels of this, depending on how bad the original event is as compared to how much worse it would have been had another event occurred.

For example, at one extreme would be an event so horrific as compared to the supposed silver lining that it’s almost laughable to link them together — something like, “My entire house burned to the ground, but it could have been worse — my leftovers in the refrigerator could have spoiled too.”

At first glance, one might put John’s description of what happened to Jesus in this category. After describing how Jesus was tortured and nailed to a cross and hung there until he died an agonizing death, John seems to be saying, “But it could have been worse — they could have broken His legs too.”

However, in this case, there’s a reason for that detail to be included — it’s a fulfillment of prophecy, presumably from Psalms 34:20, where it reads, “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.” Also, since Jesus is often compared to a lamb being sacrificed, it’s telling to note that part of the instructions for preparing a lamb to be sacrificed was “neither shall ye break a bone thereof” (Exodus 12:46). So, even in what might seem to be the tiniest silver lining, we’re able to see God’s hand in the matter, in the fulfillment of prophecy in this case, which brings a great blessing.

And that’s what we should be looking for when things are going badly for us in life — where is God’s hand in the matter? Without God being involved, it would be worse.

For example, perhaps you’ve heard someone in church start off a testimony, saying something like, “I thank God, I was in a terrible car accident this week and my car was totaled.” The average listener might be wondering why this person is thankful for this car accident, but you know what’s coming next — “It could have been so much worse, but I walked away totally unhurt. Praise God!”

Bad things happen to all of us. At one time or another, we’ll all experience some combination of sickness, tragedy, discouragement, disappointment, etc. It’s all part of life. Sometimes, you may be able to identify some way in which it could have been worse — when you do, make sure to credit God for His intervention. 

However, even if there’s no way you can think of that it could have been worse, even if what happened appears to be the worst possible outcome, remember that you always have God to lean on, to give you peace and comfort at your lowest moments. If you didn’t know the Lord, you would probably be going through the same hard times, except you’d be going through them without God — that would definitely be worse.