God meant it for good

50 Days to Freedom: Day Six

Genesis 37, 39-45, 50:20

 

The book of Genesis should break us from all of preconceived notions that Christian spirituality is about stuffy people pretending they're perfect and looking down on others.  Genesis is about how the fall breaks creation in every way and the amazing potential people have for good and for bad (add Gen 4 and 38 to your reading to get more potential of the bad). Genesis is also about how God is going to work through the bad and the broken to see His purposes prevail.

 

Joseph’s story is the perfect story.  Here is a kid who was the favored child in a hugely dysfunctional home.  His brothers hate him, mock him and sell him to traders where he spends his life alternately achieving and spending time in prison.  Imagine being a counselor and trying to deal with his broken family—from Rachel to Leah, to his twelve brother and Jacob as a father, what a mess.  Yet, Joseph sees it all come together and makes that point clear when he says to his brothers:

 

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.”

 

This was Joseph’s story, but it wasn’t just his story—it was Jesus' story.  Jesus took the evil perpetrated against Him and God used it for good.  But it is not just Joseph’s and Jesus’ story, it is our as well.  God teaches us that none of our sufferings go without His notice and involvement.  He is at work in our prisons and our betrayals. 

 

The thing is, we are used to suffering being able to be redeemed in 105-145 minutes.  Most movies redeem suffering in under two hours.  Joseph sat in a stinking jail for two years.  It is so easy to just turn the page and see the redemption on the next page.  That wasn’t how it was for Joseph and that wasn’t how it will be for us.  You may be 18 months into your imprisonment, you may be three months.  What you can count on is that God is at work to redeem all things and take all the things that are evil and use them for good.

 

What do you think?  Have you seen this?   Are there other obstacles to believing this?  How do you remind yourselves of God’s purposes in the midst of painful experiences?  Click on the title of this blog to comment.

Posted by Marc