“And now, do not be
distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it
was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you…So then, it was not you who
sent me here, but God…Am I in the place of God?
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what
is now being done…” Gen. 45:5, 8, 19
I am so thankful this morning that we have a God who masters
over evil. I am comforted by the truth
that everything
in our lives…the pain of death…the betrayal of friends or family…the suffering
of our hearts…must be filtered through the hands of God before it touches
us. If it flows into our life, it
flowed out of God’s hands. Joseph
understood this with all of his heart.
He went from being a spoiled brat baiting his brothers in a constant ‘I’m
their favorite child’ game to a throwaway family member. His own brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites
to get rid of him once and for all. Some
would say they were justified in their actions and Joseph had it coming. Others would say that the brothers didn’t
administer the care and forgiveness that is warranted within family. It doesn’t matter who was at fault, at the
end of the day Joseph understood the principle that all things came to him
through God…both for his good and the good of those around him. The very words from his lips are words that
we should speak daily, ‘Am I in the place
of God?’
Sometimes in life we are Joseph who probably deserves the circumstances
for which we find ourselves, while other times we find ourselves punishing
those we care about out of a selfish sense of entitlement. The difference will be in our prospective and
the attitude of our hearts. When we
sincerely apply the concept that anything God allows to flow into our lives is
for the good of the total picture, we begin to see blessings walking alongside
pain. We sense the powerful tug of
conviction to forgive teaching us to have a heart like Christ. We are called to be merciful to those who
have betrayed and wounded us to experience the rejection Christ
experienced. How can we learn to forgive
if we have never been betrayed? How can
we learn to comfort others if our hearts have never been broken? How can we extend mercy if we have never experienced
shame and been given a second chance?
These are the things that God allows so that we can grow in the
character of Christ and extend to others what we have been given. What we receive we are to extend and what we
experience we are to see it as God going before us to accomplish mighty things
for Him.
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