For Good
Today’s Bible Reading: GENESIS 47:28-50:26
Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Bad things happen. Evil encounters occur. But God can turn for good what is intended to harm. There is no question that what happen to Joseph was evil and wicked. His brothers meant to harm him. They acted with malice and forethought as they pulled him from the pit and sold him into slavery. There actions were deplorable and despicable acts of hateful men. But behind their bad intentions God was working for good.
They sought to frustrate Joseph’s dreams, but God stood to fulfill them. The acts of sinful man can’t stop the sovereign’s hand. They can’t dismantle what He has decreed. God placed Joseph in Egypt through the sinful acts of his brothers that through Egypt Joseph might save his brothers. God didn’t prevent the evil that Joseph experienced but used it for good. So too, He does in our lives.
Abandoned by his brother, abused by the slave traders, accused by Potiphar’s wife, assigned to prison and finally advanced to Pharaoh’s court the whole time Joseph affirmed that God was working for good to preserve His people. God made sense of his suffering. Joseph’s pain was not pointless and his suffering was not meaningless. His suffering brought their salvation.
Thousands of years later wicked men rose up against Jesus. They arrested Him. They tried Him. They condemned Him. They beat Him. They crucified Him. These were evil acts perpetrated by evil men, seeking only to silence Jesus. “But God”, like in Joseph’s case, brought good from what they meant for evil. They rose against Jesus, but Jesus rose before them. It was His sacrifice that became their salvation. Their harm toward Him became their hope in Him. We too must affirm that God is working out His good purpose even in our pain. He is making sense of our struggle.
Today recall the times in your life when bad things happened. Consider the evil things that have been done to you. Contemplate how God worked or might still be working in His providence through your pain. Thank Him that in your struggles, He can make good what others meant for harm. Acknowledge that God has a purpose for your pain and He will make sense of your suffering. For over 20 years Joseph didn’t see how it all fit together, than he recognized God’s hand in all that he had encountered. Realize that you might not see the good in your situation, but somehow God is still working for good. Believe that He is. Hold that He will.
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