There is a story in the Bible about a guy by the name of Joseph. Joseph was mistreated by his brothers and sold into slavery and then his brothers lied about it and told their father that he was killed. Joseph ended up in Egypt and was a slave for a man named Potiphar and Joseph succeeded in all he did but was wrongfully accused by Potiphar’s wife and was throne in prison. While in prison two of the king’s officials were thrown in prison, as well. One night they both had dreams and Joseph interpreted their dreams and asked one of the guys who would be getting out in 3 days to not forget about him. Well, the guy did forget about Joseph for a couple of years until the king, Pharoah, had a dream that no one could interpret. The man remembered Joseph and Pharoah sent for Joseph to be brought from the prison so that he could interpret Pharoah’s dream. Joseph did and was appointed as second in command of the nation of Egypt. Around 9 years went by and Joseph’s brothers showed up needing food because there was a great famine in that region of the world but the brothers did not recognize Joseph although Joseph recognized them. After a series of testing Joseph finally revealed his identity and had his whole family move to Egypt even his elderly father, Jacob, who was about 130 at the time. 17 years later Jacob died and Joseph’s brothers were scared that now that their father was dead that Joseph was going to get his revenge on his brothers for their cruelty in selling him into slavery. Let’s look at Joseph’s response in Genesis 50:19-21:
19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you?20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.21 No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.
People will do and say evil things to us but we must not say or do evil to them. Instead let’s look for the good that God means to come out of this situation. God is always working for your good even in the bad times and he uses the evil that people do for his good intentions. This perspective will help us to love our enemies and to love those who hurt us.
“God intended it all for good!”
mlightsey2 Said:
on September 21, 2011 at 1:48 pm
I have found this to be true in my life! God is good!
wjcollier3 Said:
on September 30, 2011 at 10:18 am
This is absolutely true! This is a good illustration of the situation Job found himself in. I just reviewed Garnett Reid’s new book, Intentional Integrity, on my site (wjcollier3.wordpress.com). He describes the characteristics of a person of integrity. It fits very well with your comments above. Thanks!