May 9, 2006

• Remember Joseph?  That young brother who was sold into slavery by his other brothers?  The one who eventually sat on Pharoah’s throne and had the opportunity to pay his brothers back for their evil?  Do you remember his words to the brothers when they realized who he was, and began to fear for their lives?  His words have 3 parts:

  
  

  “You meant it for evil . . .”

  
  

  “But God meant it for good . . .

  
  

  “For the salvation of many”

  
  

  Without waxing to long on this (after all, this isn’t the point of this post, hehe) think about how much revelation Joe possessed.  His story is in later Genesis.  He may have heard the stories of Gen. 1-30.  He had strange dreams.  And he had his family:   A dad who favored him and a bunch of brothers who envied, begrudged, even hated him.  Now you tell me how Joe came to the conclusion that God intended the brothers’ evil act for good.  He didn’t have James 1, Romans 8, Phillipians 3, Hebrews 11-12, or the teachings of Jesus to guide his “interpretation” of the events.  I can’t answer my own question:  How did Joseph come to the conclusion with which he comforted his brothers?

  
  

  But the real point of this post is this:  Doug, you DO have James 1, Romans 8, Phillipians 3, Hebrews 11-12, the teachings of Jesus, and several hundred other pages of revelation of God, His ways, His purposes, and His end goal.

  
  

  It seems to me that I ought to be able to better do what Joseph did.  By better, I mean that I should not only be able to view past evils thru the lense of God’s uses for them in my life, but I should be able to process present evils as well.  In fact, I should be able to process the evils that may come my way tomorrow, and come to the very same conclusion:  Whatever evil comes, God intends it for my good, and for the salvation of many.

  
  

  nuff said.

  • 12:08 pm
  • 3 Comments