What was sent to ruin turned out really well
Genesis 50:19-21 (NKJV)
Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
We have been speaking about defining moments and how "walls" sent to crush or ruin us can actually be the things that can redefine us and leave us in a better place than where we were before. It certainly worked that way for David, Nehemiah and Joshua. Sometimes the timing is the thing that makes it a little more confusing, but it is then that we have to believe in the bigger picture of what is presently happening, not the current moment we find ourselves in.
It was certainly this way for Joseph. When you read through his life it looks like he gets hit by one stinking wall after another; but none of the walls crushed him. Rather they redefined and often repositioned him for God's bigger picture plan. If he lived and judged everything by the individual moments he experienced it would have given him a nervous breakdown! No, he trusted God that each wall-like moment, and each individual victory, was a part of a bigger plan that would one day make sense.
And it did – the text that we read this morning was from the moment when Joseph is now Prime Minister, second in charge in the nation, and his brothers were now bowing before him begging provision, not knowing who he was – including the ones who actually started his confusing, rollercoaster journey to latter-day success by throwing him in a pit to die, then selling him on as a slave.
This moment is where Joseph speaks out of the bigger picture that he knew God had been painting the whole time: "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
When God is in it you will win it, Champion. What a picture of grace – the one they did bad to ended up being the one who would save them. Don't judge everything by the walls or challenges you may be facing today, but trust God you are in a picture that will one day make a lot of life-giving sense.
Andy
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